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THE    CAUSE    AND    EXTENT    OF    THE    RECENT   INDUS- 
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THE   CAUSES  OF  THE  PANIC  OF   1893.     By   William  J. 
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INDUSTRIAL    EDUCATION. 
Ph.D. 

FEDERAL   REGULATION    OF   RAILWAY  RATES. 
bert  N.  Merritt,  Ph.D. 

SHIP  SUBSIDIES.  An  Economic  Study  of  the  Policy  of  Sub- 
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SOCIALISM  :  A  CRITICAL  ANALYSIS.     By  O.  D.  Skelton. 

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THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  AMONG  THE  INDUSTRIAL 
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THE     NAVIGABLE    RHINE.     By  Edwin  J.  Clapp. 

HISTORY  AND  ORGANIZATION  OF  CRIMINAL  STATIS- 
TICS IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  By  Louis  Newton 
Robinson. 

SOCIAL  VALUE.     By  B.  If.  Anderson,  Jr. 

FREIGHT  CLASSIFICATION.     By  J.  F.  Strombeck. 

WATERWAYS  VERSUS  RAILWAYS.  By  Harold  Glenn 
Mouhon. 

THE  VALUE  OF  ORGANIZED  SPECULATION.  By  Harri- 
son H.  Brace. 

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kins. 

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feru. 

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THE  TIN   PLATE  INDUSTRY.     By  D.  E.  Dunbar. 

THE  MEANS  AND  METHODS  OF  AGRICULTURAL  EDU- 
CATION.    By  Albert  H.  Leake. 

THE  TAXATION  OF  LAND  VALUE.     By  Yetta  Scheftel. 

RAILROAD  VALUATION.     By  Homer  Bews  Vanderblue. 

RAILWAY  RATES  AND  THE  CANADIAN  RAILWAY  COM- 
MISSION.    By  D.  A.  MacGibbon. 

THE  CHICAGO   PRODUCE   MARKET. 
Nourse. 

THE  ARBITRAL  DETERMINATION  OF  RAILWAY  WAGES. 
By  J.  Noble  Stockett. 

THE  RESULTS  OF  MUNICIPAL  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING 
IN    MASSACHUSETTS.     By  Edmond  Earle  Lincoln. 

FAIR  VALUE.  The  Meaning  and  Application  of  the  Term 
"Fair  Valuation"  as  used  by  Utility  Commissions.  By 
Harleigh  H.  Hartman. 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAIL- 
ROAD.    By  Harold  Douglas  Dozier. 


By  Edwin  Griswold 


%oxt,  #c6affn«:  &  (Utatx  (Jh*?*  <&&scw 


XXIX 

A  fflSTORY  OF 
THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 


A  HISTORY  OF 

THE  ATLANTIC 
COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 


BY 


HOWARD  DOUGLAS  DOZIER,  PH.  D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  ECONOMICS.  DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

ffl)t  fitoer#&e  p«#  Cambubge 
1920 


COPYRIGHT,   I920,   BY  HART,   SCHAFFNBR  &    MARX 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


TO 
K.  B.  D. 


PREFACE 

This  series  of  books  owes  its  existence  to  the  generosity  of 
Messrs.  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx,  of  Chicago,  who  have 
shown  a  special  interest  in  trying  to  draw  the  attention  of 
American  youth  to  the  study  of  economic  and  commercial 
subjects.  For  this  purpose  they  have  delegated  to  the  under- 
signed committee  the  task  of  selecting  or  approving  of 
topics,  making  announcements,  and  awarding  prizes  an- 
nually for  those  who  wish  to  compete. 

For  the  year  ending  June  1,  1918,  there  were  offered: 

In  Class  A,  which  included  any  American  without  re- 
striction, a  first  prize  of  $1000,  and  a  second  prize  of  $500. 

In  Class  B,  which  included  any  who  were  at  the  time 
undergraduates  of  an  American  college,  a  first  prize  of  $300, 
and  a  second  prize  of  $200. 

Any  essay  submitted  in  Class  B,  if  deemed  of  sufficient 
merit,  could  receive  a  prize  in  Class  A. 

The  present  volume,  submitted  in  Class  A,  was  awarded 
second  prize  in  that  class. 

J.  Laurence  Latjghlin,  Chairman 

University  of  Chicago 
J.  B.  Clark 

Columbia  University 
Henry  C.  Adams 

University  of  Michigan 
Edwin  F.  Gay 

N.  Y.  Evening  Post 
Theodore  E.  Burton 

New  York  City 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

This  volume  owes  its  existence  to  a  suggestion  of  Dr.  Arthur 
S.  Dewing,  formerly  of  the  Economics  faculty  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity, now  of  the  Harvard,  that  the  consolidation  of  a 
number  of  short  railroads  along  the  South  Atlantic  Seaboard 
into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  System  illustrates  well  the 
growth  of  the  holding  company  period  of  American  rail- 
roads and  its  decline.  To  determine  to  what  extent  this  is 
true  the  work  was  originally  undertaken.  It  soon  became 
evident  that  the  location  of  the  early  constituent  roads 
was  determined  by  the  geographical  influence  of  the  fall 
line,  and  that  they,  when  once  built,  had  a  peculiarly 
marked  influence  on  the  economic  conditions  of  the  section 
of  country  through  which  they  ran. 

As  the  work  progressed  it  seemed  worth  while  to  broaden 
somewhat  its  scope  and  to  make  a  study  of  the  history  of 
the  road  with  the  economic  history  and  economic  condi- 
tions of  the  section  as  a  background.  The  results  of  this 
study  were  submitted  to  and  accepted  by  the  Yale  faculty 
as  a  dissertation  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 
With  changes  and  additions  they  now  appear  in  permanent 
form  and  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 

The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  is  the  result  of  the 
consolidation  of  more  than  a  hundred  railroads  stretching 
along  the  Atlantic  Coast  from  Richmond,  Virginia,  to  Fort 
Myers,  Florida.  The  period  of  consolidation  came  later 
than  in  the  case  of  most  other  railroad  systems,  due  to  the 
retarding  influences  of  the  Civil  War,  followed  by  those  of 
the  panic  of  1873.  From  an  historical  point  of  view  chief 
interest  centers  in  the  roads  connecting  the  towns  between 
Richmond  and  Wilmington  —  the  Richmond  and  Peters- 
burg, the  Petersburg,  and  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon 


x  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

Railroads.  Of  these,  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg,  twenty- 
two  miles  long,  was  the  parent  company.  A  short  and  pros- 
perous line,  it  acquired  the  Petersburg,  a  longer  and  less 
prosperous  neighbor,  and  became  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad  of  Virginia.  This  in  turn  acquired  a  system  of 
roads  of  greater  mileage  than  itself,  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
of  South  Carolina,  also  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Rail- 
road, and  was  rechartered  as  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Rail- 
road Company.  Farther  south  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and 
Western  developed  from  a  large  number  of  unsuccessful 
roads  into  a  successful  system  and  was  purchased  outright 
by  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company.  The  last 
important  acquisition  was  that  of  the  majority  of  the  stock 
of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville.  Control  of  this  system, 
secured  by  accident  rather  than  design,  has  proved  profit- 
able. Neither  the  original  parent  company  nor  any  of  its 
successors  has  ever  undergone  a  reorganization. 

Though  constructed  originally  for  local  purposes,  these 
lines  developed  into  a  continuous  system  and  became  the 
main  thoroughfare  of  north-and-south  travel,  thus  entering 
into  competition  with  steamship  lines.  Only  when  acting 
as  a  unit  could  the  roads  meet  successfully  this  competition. 
They  collected  produce  at  the  fall  line  towns  and  carried 
it  overland,  partially  supplanting  water  transportation. 
When  physical  connections  were  made,  gaps  closed,  and 
the  gauges  standardized,  through  trains  were  possible. 
These  enabled  farmers  along  the  route  to  grow  the  perish- 
able truck  crops  and  fruit  in  addition  to  the  staple,  cotton. 
By  marketing  cotton  and  naval  stores,  and  by  developing 
the  trucking  industry,  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 
has  rendered  its  greatest  service  to  its  patrons. 

The  author  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Arthur  S.  Dewing  and  to 
Professor  L.  D.  II .  Weld,  formerly  head  of  the  School  of 
Business  Administration  of  Yale  University,  now  head  of 
the  Department  of  Commercial  Research  of  Swift  and 
Company,  for  helpful  suggestions  in  the  early  stages  of  the 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE  xi 

study;  to  Professor  Arthur  W.  Shelton,  formerly  head  of 
the  School  of  Commerce  of  the  University  of  Georgia,  now 
with  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  for  reading  the 
entire  manuscript  and  offering  valuable  criticisms;  to  many 
officials  of  the  railroad  company  for  aid  in  securing  in- 
formation otherwise  unobtainable,  especially  to  Mr.  Lyman 
Delano,  vice-president,  for  access  to  all  records  and  docu- 
ments in  the  general  offices  of  the  company  at  Wilmington, 
North  Carolina;  to  Mr.  H.  L.  Borden,  vice-president  and 
secretary,  for  first-hand  information,  and  to  Mr.  Samuel  B. 
Woods,  formerly  assistant  to  general  counsel,  for  a  copy  of 
a  statement  with  regard  to  the  road  filed  with  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission;  to  Professor  C.  W.  Doten, 
of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  for  reading 
the  manuscript  and  suggesting  improvements  and  for  a 
careful  reading  of  the  proof;  most  of  all,  to  my  wife,  who 
helped  in  collecting  much  of  the  material,  assisted  in  its 
presentation,  did  all  of  the  typing,  read  the  proof,  and 
willingly  underwent  the  sacrifices  of  the  years  of  graduate 
study  while  the  work  was  being  done. 

H.  D.  D. 

Dartmouth  College 
Hanover,  New  Hampshire 
January  1,  1920 


CONTENTS 

I.  Early   Trade   and   Transportation   Con- 
ditions of  the  Atlantic  Seaboard  States       1 

II.  Economic  Background  of  the  North  and 

South  Railroads  of  Virginia  10 

III.  The   Petersburg  and  the  Richmond  and 

Petersburg  Railroads  before  1860  22 

IV.  North  Carolina  and  the  Wilmington  and    • 

Weldon  Railroad  before  1860  48 

V.  The  South  Carolina-Georgia   Territory 

and  its  Railroads  before  the  Civil  War     67 

VI.  Summary  of  Railroad  Conditions  along  the 

Atlantic  Seaboard  to  1860  83 

VII.  Growth  from  the  Civil  War  to  1902  102 

VIII.  Integrations  and  Consolidations  138 

IX.  Summary  and  Conclusion  160 

Appendix  165 

Bibliographical  Note  183 

Index  191 


MAPS  AND  TABLE 

Map  showing  North  and  South  Railroads  of 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina  in  1860  23 

Map    showing    Railroads    (A.C.L.)    of    South 
Carolina  and  Georgia  in  1860  67 

Table    of    Atlantic    Coast    Line    Railroad 
System  164 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  ATLANTIC 
COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

CHAPTER  I 

EARLY  TRADE  AND  TRANSPORTATION 
CONDITIONS  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  SEABOARD  STATES 

The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  is  one  of  the  five  prin- 
cipal railway  systems  of  the  South. *  It  owns  and  operates 
a  system  of  roads  in  the  states  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  and  xAlabama,  amounting 
to  4661  miles  of  fine.2  In  addition  to  this,  it  owns  the  ma- 
jority of  stock  of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Railroad 
Company,3  which  owns  and  operates  7507  miles  of  line.4 
These  two  roads  lease  the  Georgia  Railroad.  Through  this 
lease  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  and  the  Louisville  and  Nash- 
ville control  fifty  per  cent  of  the  stock  of  the  Western 
Railway  of  Alabama  and  forty-seven  per  cent  of  the  stock 
of  the  Atlanta  and  West  Point  Railroad  Company. 
Through  direct  ownership  of  additional  shares  they  exer- 
cise control  over  fifty  per  cent  of  the  stock  of  the  latter 
road. 

The  territory  served  by  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  may 
be  conveniently  divided  into  three  main  sections;  that  of 
Virginia,  that  of  North  Carolina,  and  that  of  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  and  Florida.  In  Virginia  the  lines  run  north 
and  south  connecting  the  fall  line  towns.  The  parent  road, 
the  Richmond  and  Petersburg,  was  chartered  in  1836,  and 

1  The  other  four  roads  are:  the  Southern;  the  Illinois  Central;  the 
Seaboard  Air  Line;  the  Louisville  and  Nashville. 

2  Report  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company  for  year 
ending  June  30,  1915,  p.  5. 

3  Poor's  Manual,  1903,  p.  203. 

4  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xcix,  p.  1135. 


2         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

was  operated  till  1867  as  a  small  local  line  running  between 
Richmond  and  Petersburg,  twenty- two  miles. l  The  Peters- 
burg Railroad  Company  was  incorporated  in  Virginia  in 
1830 2  and  in  North  Carolina  in  1831.3  In  1898  the  Rich- 
mond and  Petersburg  purchased  the  Petersburg  Rail- 
road and  became  by  change  of  name  the  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  Railroad  Company  of  Virginia.4 

In  North  Carolina  the  only  road  of  importance  was  the 
Wilmington  and  Weldon.  This  was  an  outgrowth  of  the 
Halifax  and  Weldon,  chartered  in  1834 5  and  consolidated 
in  1837  with  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh,  which  also 
had  been  incorporated  in  1834,6  and  in  1855  became  by 
change  of  name  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon.7  This  line 
also  runs  north  and  south  and  connects  the  Roanoke  and 
Cape  Fear  sections  of  the  state.  In  1900  the  Wilmington 
and  Weldon,  with  other  roads,  was  consolidated  with  and 
into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  Virginia  to  form  the  Atlan- 
tic Coast  Line  Railroad  Company.8 

In  the  South  Carolina-Georgia-Florida  territory  two 
systems  developed;  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South 
Carolina,  and  the  Savannah,  Florida  and  Western,  popu- 
larly known  as  the  "Plant  System."  The  general  direction 
of  these  roads  is  east  and  west.  The  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
of  South  Carolina  was  incorporated  March  5,  1897,9  as  the 
result  of  a  consolidation  of  five  roads:  the  Wilmington, 
Columbia,  and  Augusta,  chartered  in  1846  as  the  Wilming- 
ton and  Manchester;10  the  Northeastern  Railroad  of  South 
Carolina,  chartered  in  1851  j11  the  Cheraw  and  Darlington, 

1  Acts  of  Virginia,  1835-36,  ch.  121. 

8  Ibid.,  1829-30,  ch.  62,  p.  59. 

8  Acts  of  North  Carolina,  1830,  ch.  56. 

*  Acts  of  Virginia,  1897-98,  ch.  635,  p.  674. 

6  Acts  of  North  Carolina,  1833-34,  ch.  75.       6  Ibid.,  1833-34,  ch.  78. 

7  Special  Act  of  North  Carolina,  February  14,  1855. 

8  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxx,  p.  791. 

9  Acts  of  South  Carolina,  1897,  No.  394. 

10  Ibid.,  1846,  No.  2988;  Acts  of  North  Carolina,  1846-47,  ch.  82. 
»  Acts  of  South  Carolina,  1851,  No.  4069. 


WAR  OF  1812  AND  TRANSPORTATION  3 

chartered  in  1849; 1  the  Manchester  and  Augusta,  chartered 
in  1870; 2  and  the  Florence  Railroad,  chartered  in  1882. 3 

On  April  21,  1900,  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  Virginia 
absorbed  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina,  the 
Wilmington  and  Weldon,  the  Southeastern  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  the  Norfolk  and  Carolina,  and  changed  its  name 
to  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company.4  Two 
years  later,  April,  1902,  this  company  acquired  by  pur- 
chase the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western,5  which  was  a 
consolidation  of  a  number  of  small  roads,  the  most  im- 
portant of  which  were:  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf,  chartered 
in  1856; 6  the  Charleston  and  Savannah,  chartered  in 
1853; 7  the  Brunswick  and  Western,  chartered  in  1835  as 
the  Brunswick  and  Florida;8  and  the  Alabama  Midland, 
chartered  in  1887  as  the  Alabama  Terminal  and  Improve- 
ment Company. 

In  order  to  understand  the  growth  of  the  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  System,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  trade  and 
transportation  conditions  which  existed  along  the  South 
Atlantic  seaboard  prior  to  and  during  the  construction  and 
operation  of  the  independent  roads  which  finally  went  into 
it.  Roughly  speaking,  this  period  extends  from  the  War  of 
1812  to  the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  A  background  for  the 
history  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  is  found  in  the 
trade  and  transportation  conditions  which  grew  out  of  the 
War  of  1812,  and  in  the  physiography  of  the  South  Atlan- 
tic seaboard. 

The  War  of  1812  interrupted  coastwise  trade,  since  ves- 
sels of  the  enemy  lurked  in  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic 

1  Acts  of  South  Carolina,  1849,  No.  3079. 

2  Ibid.,  1870,  No.  254.  3  Ibid.,  1881-82,  No.  560. 

4  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxx,  p.  791. 

5  The  Investors'  Supplement  to  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle, 
October  25,  1902,  p.  11. 

6  Acts  of  Georgia,  1855-56,  p.  159. 

7  Acts  of  South  Carolina,  1852-53,  No.  4142;  Acts  of  Georgia,  1853- 
54,  p.  406. 

8  Acts  of  Georgia,  1835,  p.  187. 


4  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

ready  to  capture  any  commerce  they  might  find.1  This 
forced  those  who  desired  to  travel  between  the  coast 
towns  or  to  carry  on  trade  to  resort  to  the  Conestoga 
wagon.  Such  a  four-horse  wagon  which  could  make  in 
three  days  the  ninety  miles  between  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia over  the  almost  impassable  roads  was  considered 
a  "flying  machine."  Under  such  conditions  trade  was  small 
and  travelers  few.  Great  excitement  prevailed  in  Philadel- 
phia even  as  late  as  July  4,  1825,  because  of  the  pres- 
ence of  three  hundred  New  Yorkers,  enough  to  fill  thirty- 
five  coaches,  at  the  Independence  celebration  in  the  city. 

The  connecting  of  the  towns  and  cities  along  the  eastern 
coastal  plain  was  discussed  very  early.  Gallatin,  in  his 
report  to  the  Senate  on  April  12,  1808, 2  recommended 
that  a  highway  be  constructed  from  Maine  to  Georgia, 
stating  that  south  of  the  Potomac  there  were  few  artifi- 
cial roads  on  account  of  the  scattered  population.  He  fur- 
ther urged  in  the  same  report  that  the  inland  bays  and 
sounds  along  the  Atlantic  between  Massachusetts  and 
Georgia  be  connected  by  a  system  of  canals  in  order  to 
form  one  continuous  inland  waterway. 

The  physiographical  factor  of  the  South  Atlantic  sea- 
board which  influenced  the  location  of  the  route  of  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  is  the  "fall  line."  3  Begin- 
ning at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  this  line  runs  southward 
through  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Richmond,  Fredericks- 
burg, and  Petersburg.  The  fall  line  and  the  tide  line  down 
to  this  point  coincide.  Leaving  Petersburg  the  fall  line  ex- 
tends southwestward  and  runs  parallel  to  the  mountains, 
passing  through  Raleigh,  Columbia,  Augusta,  Macon,  Co- 
lumbus, and  Montgomery,  leaving  a  space  of  navigable 
water  on  the  rivers  between  the  falls  and  the  ocean.  In 

1  Kettell,  in  Eighty  Years  of  Progress,  p.  184. 

2  Report  of  Secretary  of  Treasury  on  Public  Roads  and  Canals, 
made  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  March  2,  1807. 

3  For  a  description  of  the  "fall  line  "  see  Bulletin  of  American  Geo- 
graphical Society,  vol.  xl,  p.  136. 


INVENTION  OF  THE  COTTON  GIN  5 

passing  over  this  line  all  the  important  rivers  flowing  into 
the  Atlantic  have  either  rapids  or  falls  obstructing  naviga- 
tion. As  the  country  became  more  thickly  settled,  trading 
towns  sprang  up  at  these  points.  Their  access  to  each  other 
was  down  one  river  and  up  the  next  or  overland  by  wagon 
roads.  The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  System  is  a  consolidation 
of  the  short  railroads  built  to  give  these  fall  line  towns 
connection.  These  roads,  especially  those  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  territory,  ran  parallel  to  the  coast  and  perpen- 
dicular to  the  ridges  between  the  rivers. 

In  addition  there  was  an  ever-increasing  struggle  to  get 
connection  with  the  West  by  means  of  the  navigable  rivers, 
sluices  around  the  rapids  at  the  fall  line,  and  either  canals 
or  railroads  through  the  mountains  to  the  tributaries  of 
the  Ohio  and  other  western  rivers.  George  Washington  had 
been  interested  in  this,  and  before  he  was  twenty-one  had 
crossed  the  mountains  and  studied  the  possibility  of  con- 
necting by  means  of  a  canal  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the 
Ohio  River.1  In  1784  he  presided  over  a  commission  at 
Annapolis  on  behalf  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  to  consider 
the  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  the  Potomac.  The 
first  real  connection  with  the  West  was  by  means  of  the 
Cumberland  Road,  begun  in  1812. 2  This  started  at  Cumber- 
land, Maryland;  passed  through  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania; 
Wheeling,  then  Virginia;  Zanesville  and  Columbus,  Ohio; 
reaching  the  latter  about  the  beginning  of  the  railroad  era.3 
The  greatest  of  the  early  undertakings  was  the  Erie  Canal, 
begun  in  1817  and  completed  in  1825,  joining  Lake  Erie 
and  the  Hudson  River.4  Then  followed  a  titanic  struggle 
for  the  trade  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

The  connection  with  the  WTest,  the  invention  of  the 

1  Kettell,  in  Eighty  Years  of  Progress,  p.  173. 

2  Hulbert,    "The    Cumberland   Road,"    in   Historic   Highways   of 
America,  vol.  x,  p.  54. 

3  Ibid.,  pp.  77-78. 

4  A.  B.  Hepburn,  Artificial  Waterways  and  Commercial  Development, 
pp.  28-31. 


6  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

cotton  gin,  and  the  invention  of  the  steamboat  had  far- 
reaching  effects  upon  the  trade  and  transportation  of  the 
southern  Atlantic  coastal  plain.  The  invention  of  the  cotton 
gin  in  1792  removed  the  greatest  impediment  in  the  way 
of  cotton  culture  which  soon  spread  westward  from  the 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina  coast,  where  it  had  been 
concentrated,  to  the  western  part  of  Georgia,  to  Alabama, 
and  to  Mississippi.  Great  plantations  sprang  up.  Settlers 
swarmed  in,  drawing  off  the  population  of  the  older  coast 
states  of  North  and  South  Carolina.  Georgia,  Alabama, 
and  Mississippi  together  in  1816  contained  75,000  people; 
four  years  later  they  contained  200,000.*  As  early  as  1802 
some  cotton  had  been  raised  near  New  Orleans,  Natchez, 
and  Nashville.  The  exports  from  New  Orleans  in  that 
year  amounted  to  29,000  bales.  The  introduction  of  cotton 
culture  into  the  Southwest  led  to  a  division  of  labor  be- 
tween the  planters  of  the  South  and  the  farmers  of  the 
West.  This  gave  rise  to  an  important  trade  upon  the  west- 
ern rivers  which  was  of  the  same  character  as  that  carried 
on  in  earlier  times  between  the  northern  colonies  and  the 
southern  coast  and  the  West  Indies. 

The  invention  of  the  steamboat  was  largely  responsible 
for  the  extension  of  this  trade.  In  1811  the  first  steamboat 
trip  was  made  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  from 
Pittsburgh  to  New  Orleans.2  The  following  figures  will 
give  an  idea  of  what  this  invention  meant  to  the  western 
country  and  to  New  Orleans  as  a  market.  The  distance 
from  New  Orleans  to  St.  Louis  is  1300  miles.  The  time 
required  to  make  the  trip  upstream  in  the  old  flatboat  was 
120  days.  In  1815  the  steamer  Enterprise  made  it  in  25 
days.  In  1823  the  time  had  been  reduced  to  12,  in  1826  to 
9j,  in  1860  to  3.3  Yet  the  steamer,  instead  of  supplanting 

1  Callender,  "Early  Transportation  and  Banking  Enterprises  of  the 
States  in  Relation  to  the  Growth  of  Corporations,"  Quarterly  Journal 
of  Economics  (November,  1902),  vol.  xvn,  p.  16. 

2  Latrobe,  First  Steamboat  Voyage  in  Western  Waters. 

3  Kettell,  in  Eighty  Years  of  Progress,  p.  183. 


DECLINE  IN  EXPORTS  7 

the  flatboat,  really  encouraged  its  use  because  of  the  ease 
with  which  rivermen  could  now  get  back  upstream.  The 
old  flat,  which  had  either  been  broken  up  and  sold  as  lum- 
ber on  reaching  New  Orleans  or  else  loaded  and  poled  up- 
stream, could  now  be  loaded  and  towed  back. 

In  1815  there  were  14  steamboats  on  western  waters; 
by  1842  there  were  1200. x  This  fleet  gave  New  Orleans  for 
a  time  a  monopoly  of  practically  all  the  products  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  In  the  end  New  York  captured  the 
greater  part  of  the  trade,  but  New  Orleans,  thanks  to  the 
growth  of  cotton  culture  in  the  Southwest,  was  in  1830 
second  only  to  New  York  in  its  export  trade,  which  was 
double  that  of  Boston  and  treble  that  of  Philadelphia.2 
The  amount  had  remained  about  stationary  for  half  a 
century,  but  the  character  was  greatly  changed.  In  1800 
60  per  cent  of  the  exports  of  the  city  was  western  produce; 
in  1845,  only  18  per  cent.  This  decrease  in  western  prod- 
uce was  offset  by  the  tremendous  growth  of  the  export 
trade  in  cotton:  1,900,000  pounds  were  exported  in  1795, 
as  compared  with  639,000,000  pounds  in  1838. 3  A  violent 
fall  in  the  price  during  this  period,  however,  kept  the 
money  value  about  the  same. 

The  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal  did  not  increase  materially 
the  sum  total  of  the  exports  of  the  country,  but  merely 
deflected  them  from  their  former  course.  New  York  profited 
by  the  deflection;  the  cities  of  the  South  Atlantic  seaboard 
lost.  The  following  figures  show  the  decline  in  exports  of 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  indicate  that  Virginia 

was  about  at  a  standstill: 4 

1819  1830 

South  Carolina  $8,251,000  $7,627,000 

Georgia  $6,310,000  $5,337,000 

Virginia  $4,392,000  $4,792,000 

1  De  Bow,  Industrial  Resources  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States, 
vol.  ir,  p.  460. 

2  Emory  R.  Johnson,  History  of  Domestic  and  Foreign  Commerce  of 
the  United  States,  vol.  11,  p.  39. 

3  Hunt's  Merchant  Magazine,  vol.  I,  p.  89.  4  See  note  2,  supra. 


8  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

Charleston  and  Savannah  were  the  greatest  sufferers 
among  the  coast  towns.  They  found  the  exports  which  had 
formerly  been  theirs  leaving  the  country  through  New 
Orleans.  These  cities  had  secured  some  advantage  from  the 
spread  of  cotton  culture  as  long  as  it  was  confined  to  the 
river  valleys  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  pine  barrens  and  on 
the  immediate  western  slopes.  When  great  plantations 
sprang  up  farther  west,  however,  New  Orleans  and  Mobile 
reaped  the  benefits.  There  was  no  adequate  communication 
with  the  western  country.  From  Savannah  to  the  nearest 
branch  of  the  Tennessee  River  is  three  hundred  miles, 
and  the  distance  from  the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Savan- 
nah River  to  the  Tennessee  River  had  not  been  spanned. 1 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  first  important  communication 
between  the  coast  and  the  Southwest  came  on  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  when  in  1851 
trains  ran  from  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  through  Atlanta 
to  the  coast.2 

The  eastern  seacoast  towns  were  also  doomed  to  disap- 
pointment in  the  results  of  the  application  of  steam  to 
transatlantic  vessels.  The  first  steamship  built  in  the 
United  States  was  the  Savannah,  owned  by  Savannah 
capitalists  who  had  it  built  in  the  North.  It  reached  Savan- 
nah from  New  York  in  April,  1819,  and  left  for  Liverpool 
in  May.3  The  people  along  the  coast  believed  this  to  be  the 
solution  of  their  difficulties.  They  had  failed  to  secure  the 
export  of  the  surplus  cotton  from  the  Southwest,  and  felt 
that  the  remedy  was  to  develop  a  great  direct  trade  with 
Europe  and  to  supply  the  southwestern  farmer  with  his 
wares.  But  a  steamship  can  defy  trade  winds  and  ocean 
currents.  Previous  to  this  time  most  of  the  trade  from 
Europe,  carried  on  in  sailing  vessels,  had  gone  down  the 
coast  of  Africa  and  had  followed  the  trade  winds  and  the 

1  Gallatin's  Report,  1808. 

2  Phillips,  History  of  Transportation  in  the  Eastern  Cotton  Belt  to  I860, 
p.  316. 

3  Joseph  Bancroft,  Savannah,  Census  and  Statistics,  p.  55. 


SUMMARY  OF  CONDITIONS  9 

Gulf  Stream.  These  had  brought  the  ships  to  America  and 
practically  cast  them  ashore  at  Charleston,  Savannah,  or 
Norfolk  which  had  accordingly  become  important  shipping 
centers.1  The  introduction  of  the  steamship  enabled  this 
trade  to  go  directly  to  the  more  prosperous  cities  of  the 
North. 

This,  then,  was  the  situation:  the  wide  stretch  of  ter- 
ritory lying  between  the  mountains  and  the  ocean,  com- 
prising the  greater  part  of  Virginia,  North  and  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  Florida,  and  Alabama,  was  well  suited  to 
agriculture,  but  was  worked  under  a  system  which  ex- 
hausted the  soil  without  replenishing  it.  It  was  cut  off 
from  access  to  the  West  by  natural  barriers,  and  the  export 
trade  diverted  to  New  York  and  New  Orleans.  The  pop- 
ulation was  leaving  the  worn-out  land  and  taking  up  new 
plantations  in  the  Southwest.  The  two  chief  transportation 
problems  were  to  effect  a  connection  with  the  West  by 
canals  or  railroads  running  perpendicular  to  the  coast, 
and  to  develop  a  local  system  of  inland  communication  by 
railroads  running  parallel  to  the  coast,  joining  the  fall 
line  towns  and  cities.  The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 
had  its  beginning  in  such  conditions  and  was  developed 
as  a  solution  of  the  second  of  these  problems. 

1  De  Bow,  Industrial  Resources  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States, 
vol.  hi,  p.  3. 


CHAPTER  II 

ECONOMIC  BACKGROUND  OF  THE  NORTH  AND 
SOUTH  RAILROADS  OF  VIRGINIA 

Conditions  in  Virginia  at  the  beginning  of  the  railroad 
era  were  similar  to  those  of  her  neighboring  states  to  the 
south.  She  had  seen  her  land  exhausted  and  her  farmers 
moving  away. l  Although  the  first  to  attempt  a  connection 
with  the  West,  by  means  of  the  James  River  and  Kanawha 
Canal,  and  the  last  one  to  give  up  the  idea  of  canal  con- 
nection, she  never  completed  the  project.  She  saw  the 
cities  of  other  seaboard  states  secure  the  coveted  connec- 
tion; New  York  by  means  of  the  Erie  Canal,  Boston  by 
the  Western  Railroad,  Philadelphia  by  the  Pennsylvania 
line  of  improvement  and  portage  canal,  and  Baltimore  by 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad. 

Virginia  was  the  first  southern  state  to  attempt  rail- 
road construction  north  and  south,  parallel  to  the  coast. 
In  spite  of  this  fact  there  was  nothing  that  approached  a 
consolidated  system  of  railroads  until  after  the  Civil  War. 
Two  of  the  chief  reasons  for  this  were:  first,  the  lack  of 
floating  capital;  second,  the  fact  that  coastwise  transpor- 
tation in  a  measure  met  the  needs.  Additional  causes  of 
the  slow  growth  of  trade  and  transportation  in  Virginia 
were  jealousy  of  other  states,  the  conviction  that  internal 
improvements  undertaken  by  the  federal  government  were 
unconstitutional,  and  the  rivalry  between  the  tide  water 
and  western  sections  of  the  state. 

An  illustration  of  the  jealousy  toward  other  states  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  Senate  rejected  a  bill  which 
had  passed  the  House  of  Delegates  to  give  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad,  a  Maryland  corporation,  a  more  ex- 

1  Joseph  Martin,  New  and  Comprehensive  Gazetteer  of  Virginia,  p.  99. 


JEALOUSY  BETWEEN  SECTIONS  OF  THE  STATE    11 

tended  range  for  the  location  of  its  route  in  the  western 
part  of  the  state.  "The  sum  and  substance  of  the  whole 
seems  to  be  that  Virginia  ought  to  retain  for  herself  the 
sovereign  right  to  prevent  internal  improvements  whether 
she  herself  will  or  will  not  make  them.  And  it  appears  as 
if  agreed  that  it  will  be  better  for  the  state  that  its  large 
and  fertile  western  district  should  remain  as  it  is,  deprived 
of  a  market  for  many  of  its  productions,  than  that  Balti- 
more may  become  the  place  of  their  deposit,  Baltimore 
being  a  foreign  port,  without  the  limits  of  the  'nation  of 
Virginia.'"1 

A  committee  of  the  House  of  Delegates  expressed  the 
attitude  of  the  state  toward  federal  construction  of  internal 
improvements  in  a  report  which  stated  that  the  term  "in- 
ternal improvements"  was  in  common  and  ordinary  use 
and  susceptible  of  the  clearest  definition.  No  reason  could 
be  assigned  why  this  power  was  not  granted  to  the  general 
government  if  it  had  been  so  intended.  The  peculiar 
character  of  the  power  to  make  internal  improvements 
was  locality,  and  therefore  peculiarly  unsuited  to  the  ju- 
risdiction of  the  general  government,  and  peculiarly  suited 
to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  state  governments  intended  for 
local  objects.2 

Not  only  was  Virginia  as  a  state  hostile  to  enterprises 
which  originated  in  other  states,  but  the  eastern  section 
was  extremely  jealous  of  any  undertakings  which  threat- 
ened it  with  competition.  There  was  a  feeling  on  the  part 
of  some  eastern  citizens  that  the  opening  of  the  West  would 
bring  keen  competition  to  the  tide  water  farmers.  An  illus- 
tration of  this  feeling  appears  in  the  reply  of  an  eastern 
Virginia  farmer  to  a  letter  of  a  westerner  in  the  Richmond 
papers  in  the  summer  of  1838,  urging  that  the  water  be 
turned  into  the  James  River  Canal  so  that  the  western 
farmers  might  market  their  wheat  crop.     He  begged  the 

1  Constitutional  Whig,  Richmond,  February  16,  1827. 

2  Niks'  Register,  December  29,  1827. 


12        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

westerner  to  keep  quiet  so  that  for  once  the  tide  water 
farmers  might  get  a  good  price  for  their  wheat,  stating 
that  even  at  the  advanced  price  which  this  freedom  from 
competition  would  give,  the  tide  water  people  would  not 
realize  a  tithe  of  the  excess  of  taxation  paid  by  them  in 
developing  facilities  in  which  they  had  no  interest. !  In  the 
early  years  this  feeling  was  particularly  strong  in  Norfolk, 
the  principal  port  of  the  state.  Appeals  were  made  to  her 
in  vain  by  the  fall  line  towns  to  join  them  in  an  attempt 
to  develop  trade  with  the  western  part  of  the  state.2 

In  order  to  appreciate  this  provincial  feeling  it  is  only 
necessary  to  contrast  the  two  divisions  of  the  state.  The 
tide  water  section  is  that  part  lying  to  the  east  of  the  fall 
line.  It  forms  an  irregular  quadrilateral  114  miles  in  length 
north  and  south  and  90  miles  in  width  east  and  west,  con- 
taining 11,350  square  miles  of  which  some  2500  square 
miles  are  water.3  This  division  contained,  until  well  into 
the  nineteenth  century,  the  wealthiest  and  most  influen- 
tial portion  of  the  population.4  Ocean  vessels  going  up  the 
Chesapeake  Bay,  the  Potomac,  Rappahannock,  York,  and 
James  Rivers  could  land  at  the  wharves  of  the  individual 
planters,  thus  obviating  the  necessity  of  market  towns  of 
any  considerable  size.  That  part  of  the  state  lying  between 
the  fall  line  and  the  Blue  Ridge  consists  of  what  has 
been  called  the  Atlantic  Coast  Range  and  the  Piedmont. 
Sparsely  settled,  it  did  not  until  much  later  acquire  suffi- 
cient influence  to  demand  consideration  in  the  legislature. 

The  only  city  of  importance  in  the  tide  water  counties 

1  Richmond  Enquirer,  July  13  and  24,  1838. 

2  W.  S.  Forrest,  Historical  and  Descriptive  Sketches  of  Norfolk,  p.  222. 
Quotation  from  Petersburg  Intelligencer  on  occasion  of  Norfolk's  be- 
coming a  city,  1845. 

3  Virginia,  A  Geographical  and  Political  Summary,  published  by 
Board  of  Immigration,  1876. 

4  History  of  Transportation  in  the  United  States  before  1860,  prepared 
under  the  direction  of  B.  H.  Meyer  by  Caroline  E.  MacGill  and  staff  of 
collaborators,  published  by  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington,  1917, 
p.  265. 


POSSIBILITIES  OF  WINNING  FOREIGN  TRADE     13 

of  Virginia  was  Norfolk.  Therefore  the  history  of  trade 
and  transportation  conditions  in  tide  water  Virginia  is 
practically  the  history  of  trade  and  transportation  con- 
ditions in  Norfolk.  The  excellence  of  its  harbor,  Hampton 
Roads,  its  central  location  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  its 
extensive  back  country  gave  it  this  commanding  position. 
It  was  the  most  convenient  point  where  the  produce  of  the 
interior  might  be  collected  and  whence  it  might  be  dis- 
tributed north  and  south  among  the  markets  of  the  sea- 
board.1 The  back  country  upon  which  it  could  draw  was 
that  drained  by  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  including  that  part 
of  Pennsylvania  which  lies  in  the  valley  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, all  of  Maryland  east  of  the  mountains,  the  valleys 
of  the  Potomac,  Rappahannock,  York,  and  James  Rivers, 
and  the  Roanoke  section  of  North  Carolina.2  Because 
of  this  advantageous  location,  Norfolk  was  an  important 
commercial  town  before  the  Revolution  and  by  1804  had 
a  growing  trade  and  a  population  of  about  9000. 3 

In  her  efforts  to  win  for  herself  a  leading  place  among  the 
trading  cities  of  the  coast,  Norfolk  had  the  following  pos- 
sibilities: to  retain  her  direct  foreign  trade  or  to  establish 
trade  relations  with  South  America;  to  develop  the  North 
Carolina  trade  through  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal  and  the 
Roanoke  River;  to  secure  western  trade,  either  by  supplant- 
ing Richmond  as  the  port  of  deposit  or  by  uniting  with  the 
fall  line  towns  to  secure  it  through  canals  or  railroads. 

Norfolk,  small  and  weak  as  she  was,  longed  to  share  the 
foreign  trade  with  New  York  and  the  other  coast  cities, 
and  in  1852  made  a  feeble  effort  to  capture  some  of  it.  This 
attempt  was  made  in  connection  with  a  Belgian  effort  to 
establish  a  direct  line  of  steamers  with  some  port  in  the 
United  States.  The  legislature  of  Virginia  was  petitioned 

1  Lieutenant  Maury,  Executive  Documents,  44th  Congress,  1870-71, 
p.  65. 

2  Lieutenant  Maury,  in  De  Bow,  Industrial  Resources  of  the  Southern 
and  Western  States,  vol.  in,  p.  2. 

3  W.  S.  Forrest,  Historical  and  Descriptive  Sketches  of  Norfolk, -p.  306. 


14        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

to  grant  a  charter  to  the  Atlantic  Steam  Navigation  Com- 
pany, the  purpose  of  which  was  to  run  a  line  of  first-class 
steamships  between  the  ports  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and 
Antwerp  in  Belgium.1  In  spite  of  popular  agitation  the 
House  of  Delegates  in  1853  refused  to  grant  the  charter. 
Thereupon  a  line  was  established  to  New  York  instead  of 
to  Norfolk,  but  it  could  not  compete  with  those  already  ply- 
ing between  New  York  and  Liverpool.  Having  failed  to  se- 
cure direct  foreign  trade,  the  Virginians  raised  the  cry,  "Let 
the  South  look  to  the  South.  Behold  the  valley  of  the 
Amazon  and  the  great  river  basins  of  South  America.' '  2 
But  attempts  to  establish  such  commerce  went  no  farther 
than  the  cry. 

The  most  successful  attempt  made  by  Norfolk  to  develop 
her  commerce  was  that  by  which  she  secured  the  North 
Carolina  trade  through  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal.  Begin- 
ning at  Norfolk  this  canal  runs  south  to  the  Albemarle 
Sound.  It  was  chartered  in  Virginia  in  1787  and  in  North 
Carolina  in  1790.3  Its  original  purpose  was  to  furnish  a 
means  of  getting  lumber  out  of  the  Dismal  Swamp  by 
obviating  the  necessity  of  hauling  it  over  the  corduroy 
roads.  Later  the  canal  was  extended  and  formed  the  chief 
means  of  communication  between  Norfolk  and  the  Roa- 
noke country  of  North  Carolina.  Virginia  was  a  subscriber 
to  seventy  shares  ($250  each)  of  the  stock  of  the  company. 
Much  of  the  other  capital  was  secured  by  means  of  lot- 
teries.4 It  was  finally  completed  in  1823,  and  on  April  28 
of  that  year  the  schooner  Rebecca  Edwards  with  a  cargo 
of  cotton,  flour,  tobacco,  and  hogs  passed  through  and 
arrived  at  Norfolk.5  For  many  years  this  canal  was  of 

1  W.  S.  Forrest,  Historical  and  Descriptive  Sketches  of  Norfolk,  p.  319. 

2  Lieutenant  Maury,  in  De  Bow,  Industrial  Resources  of  Southern 
and  Western  States,  vol.  in,  p.  5. 

8  American  State  Papers,  vol.  xx,  Miscellaneous  Documents,  vol.  I, 
p.  763. 

4  Constitutional  Whig,  Richmond,  February  2,  1827. 

6  W.  S.  Forrest,  Historical  and  Descriptive  Sketches  of  Norfolk,  p.  97. 


KANAWHA  CANAL  — THE  JAMES  RIVER        19 

inspected  there  from  15,000  to  18,000  hogsheads  of  to- 
bacco weighing  1500  pounds.  This  was  the  largest  inspec- 
tion of  any  city  in  the  United  States.  Besides  this  it  ex- 
ported some  25,000  to  30,000  barrels  of  flour  yearly.  This 
produce  was  conveyed  in  batteaus  to  Richmond.  It  was 
estimated  that  there  were  500  of  these  boats  in  use  giving 
employment  to  1500  people.  Richmond  and  not  Norfolk 
had  secured  the  trade  with  Lynchburg.  Ocean  steamers 
could  ascend  the  James  as  far  as  Richmond,  secure  their 
freight,  and  put  to  sea  without  stopping  at  Norfolk.  In 
addition  to  the  trade  which  came  down  the  James  River 
and  Kanawha  Canal,  an  important  source  was  the  coal 
fields  then  operated  in  Chesterfield  County.  The  first  rail- 
road in  Virginia  was  built  from  Manchester  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  James  from  Richmond  to  these  mines. 
The  road  was  constructed  largely  by  the  owner  of  one  of 
them  and  brought  down  2,000,000  tons  of  coal  yearly. 

The  chief  claim  of  Richmond  to  distinction  outside  of 
being  a  trading  center  was  the  fact  that  the  river  at  this 
point  furnishes  ample  water  power  for  manufacturing 
establishments.  From  the  commencement  of  the  rapids  a 
few  miles  above,  the  fall  is  upward  of  one  hundred  feet 
to  the  level  of  tide  water.  Situated  along  the  river  there 
were  a  number  of  flouring  mills,  grist  mills,  a  cut-nail 
manufactory,  a  rolling  and  slitting  mill,  an  iron  foundry, 
and  a  cotton  mill.  Yet  there  was  continual  chafing  under 
the  dependence  upon  northern  cities  for  home  supplies. 
A  resident  of  the  city  writes  in  the  Richmond  Times:  l 

Consider  these  things  —  "Just  received  another  lot  of  those 
celebrated  Troy  Cooking  Stoves."  A  heading  like  the  above  is 
not  strange  to  your  columns.  Docs  anybody  know  how  many 
thousand  dollars  are  yearly  sent  north  from  Virginia  for  that  one 
article?  Have  we  not  as  good  water  power,  as  good  iron  and  coal 
as  they  have  at  the  North,  or  as  skillful  mechanics?  "Just  re- 
ceived, one  hundred  bales  of  northern  hay."  Is  it  a  fact  that  Vir- 

1  Quoted  by  Forrest,  in  Historical  and  Descriptive  Sketches  of  Norfolk, 
pp.  410-11. 


20        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

ginia  cannot  raise  hay  to  feed  her  own  stock?  I  have  seen  even 
this  dry  season  at  least  three  tons  per  acre  on  land  that  a  few 
years  since  was  worth  no  more  than  —  in  fact,  as  poor  a  piece 
of  land  as  could  be  found  in  the  state.  What  crop  pays  better  at 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  dollars  per  ton? 

Petersburg  was  not  materially  different  from  Richmond 
and  Fredericksburg.  It  had  grown  up  at  the  falls  of  the 
Appomattox,  but  instead  of  securing  its  trade  from  the 
west  as  Richmond  had  done,  it  had  secured  it  largely  from 
North  Carolina.  With  this  state  it  had  a  considerable 
wagon  trade  before  the  building  of  the  Petersburg  Rail- 
road. It  was  the  chief  tobacco  market  of  that  section. 
Travelers  met  continually  on  the  road  hundreds  of  single 
hogsheads  of  tobacco  drawn  by  two  horses  tandem,  com- 
ing eighty  or  one  hundred  miles  from  the  interior.1  The 
method  used  was  to  run  a  beam  through  the  hogshead 
lengthwise  in  the  center  of  the  heads  and  attach  a  pair  of 
shafts  to  the  protruding  ends  of  the  beam,  hitching  the 
horses  in  these  shafts. 

The  dirt  roads  leading  from  the  North  through  these 
cities  and  on  into  North  Carolina  were  very  poor.  After 
leaving  Alexandria,  Virginia,  the  road  ran  for  miles  through 
woods  of  pine  mingled  with  oak  and  cedar.  It  was  some- 
times so  narrow  that  a  vehicle  struck  against  the  trees. 
Again  it  was  so  full  of  stumps  as  to  be  almost  impassable. 
Now  and  then  scattered  along  the  way  was  a  little  village 
composed  of  a  few  frame  houses  with  one  rather  more 
extensive  and  substantial  used  as  a  tavern.  The  only  pubic 
conveyance  to  be  had  was  the  "fast"  United  States  mail. 
In  summer  ten  days  were  required  to  go  from  Baltimore  to 
Richmond  and  thirty-three  from  Baltimore  to  Augusta, 
Georgia.  The  sixty-nine  miles  from  Richmond  to  Fredericks- 
burg was  covered  in  two  days  in  May,  1817,  in  high  hacks.2 

1  Hodgson,  Letters  from  North  America,  vol.  I,  Letter  3,  pp.  32-33. 

2  Transportation  in  the  United  States  before  1860,  p.  60.  Prepared 
under  the  direction  of  B.  H.  Meyer  by  Caroline  E.  MacGill  and  staff 


DIRT  ROADS  21 

South  of  Petersburg  conditions  were  if  anything  worse. 
The  roads  were  almost  impassable  for  a  good  portion  of 
the  year  and  the  population  was  even  more  scattered  than 
was  the  case  farther  to  the  north. 

With  a  growing  demand  for  overland  communication 
along  the  fall  line  and  the  introduction  of  the  railroad  else- 
where as  a  successful  competitor  to  navigation,  it  was  to 
be  expected  that  the  towns  along  the  line  should  give  their 
attention  to  the  building  of  railroads.  This  interest  re- 
sulted in  the  building  of  a  number  of  roads  which  in  time 
were  connected  physically  and  consolidated  into  the  Atlan- 
tic Coast  Line  System.  At  the  time  of  their  building,  how- 
ever, there  was  no  plan  of  a  system.  Like  all  the  roads  of 
the  time  they  were  built  to  connect  local  points,  namely, 
the  fall  line  towns. x  There  was  little  concerted  action.  The 
roads  were  constructed  to  benefit  the  towns  which  they 
connected  and  with  little  idea  of  forming  a  transportation 
system  for  the  general  benefit.  To  the  extent  to  which  the 
state  aided  these  enterprises  there  was  a  broader  view. 

of  collaborators,  published  by  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington, 
1917. 

1  Ringwalt,  Development  of  Transportation  Systems  in  the  United 
States,  p.  71. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  PETERSBURG  AND  THE  RICHMOND 
AND  PETERSBURG  RAILROADS  BEFORE  1860 

The  Petersburg  Railroad 

The  oldest  of  the  roads  which  went  into  the  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  System  was  the  Petersburg.  It  was  preeminently  an 
enterprise  of  the  citizens  of  Petersburg,  Virginia.  Their 
purpose  was  to  tap  the  Roanoke  country  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  increase  the  trade  which  had  long  existed  with 
that  section.  The  building  of  the  road  was  a  stroke  at  the 
Dismal  Swamp  Canal  and  at  Norfolk,  for  it  would  divert 
much  trade  to  Petersburg  which  would  have  otherwise 
gone  to  Norfolk.  There  had  for  a  long  time  existed  an 
intense  rivalry  between  the  two  towns. 

Although  the  idea  of  using  railroads  as  a  means  of  trans- 
portation was  new,  the  citizens  entered  enthusiastically  into 
the  organization  of  a  company  and  obtained  a  charter 
from  the  state  of  Virginia  on  February  10,  1830,  which  was 
later  granted  also  by  the  state  of  North  Carolina.1  This 
charter  served  as  a  model  for  most  of  the  other  early 
roads  of  Virginia.  It  provided  that:  the  capital  stock  was 
to  be  $400,000;  the  road  was  to  extend  from  Petersburg  to 
some  convenient  point  on  the  North  Carolina  line;  per- 
mission was  given  to  erect  toll-gates  on  the  line  and  scales 
at  its  various  depots;  when  ten  miles  should  be  completed, 
the  company  was  allowed  to  be^in  operation,  charging  12 \ 
cents  per  ton  mile  for  freight;  when  the  entire  road  was  fin- 
ished, the  rate  was  to  be  $8  a  ton  for  the  whole  distance. 
The  net  profit  allowable  was  to  amount  to  a  sum  equal  to 
the  capital  stock  expended,  with  6  per  cent  interest  on  it 

1  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1829-30,  ch.  62,  p.  59;  Acts 
of  North  Carolina,  1830,  ch.  56. 


THE  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD  23 

from  the  time  the  money  was  advanced  by  the  stockhold- 
ers until  received  back  in  net  profit.  After  this  sum  should 
be  collected,  the  rates  were  to  be  fixed  and  regulated  by  the 
Board  of  Public  Works  of  the  state  so  that  the  road  could 
earn  6  per  cent  on  the  capital  stock  above  running  ex- 
penses.1 All  machines,  wagons,  vehicles,  and  carriages  pur- 
chased by  the  company,  all  works  constructed,  and  all 
profits  were  to  be  vested  in  the  company  forever,  deemed 
personal  estate  and  free  from  all  public  charges  or  taxes 
whatsoever.  The  charter  was  amended  three  years  later 
so  as  to  allow  the  building  of  a  branch  road  from  the  inter- 
section with  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  to  Weldon.2 

By  the  middle  of  the  summer  of  the  year  in  which  the 
charter  was  granted,  over  $325,000  of  the  necessary 
$400,000  had  been  subscribed.3  The  country  through 
which  the  road  was  to  run  was  sparsely  settled,  averaging 
about  one  farmhouse  to  the  mile  except  in  a  small  village 
or  two  on  the  fine.4  The  land  owners  with  few  exceptions 
gave  the  right  of  way  from  Petersburg  to  the  Roanoke 
River.5  Little  time  was  lost  and  by  the  fall  of  1830  engi- 
neers were  engaged  in  locating  the  road  from  the  Rowanty 
River  to  the  Nottoway. 

The  interest  of  the  state  in  all  her  internal  improvements 
had  been  vested  in  1816  in  the  Board  of  Pub  He  Works. 
This  board  was  endowed  with  all  the  stock  then  held  by 
the  state  in  the  various  turnpike  and  canal  companies, 
in  the  Bank  of  Virginia,  and  in  the  Farmers'  Bank  of 
Virginia.  The  rule  was  established  that  when  internal  im- 

1  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1830,  ch.  18;  Acts  of  North 
Carolina,  1830,  ch.  10. 

2  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1833,  ch.  80. 
8  Niks'  Register,  July  24,  1830. 

4  An  old  map  dated  1832  and  drawn  for  Moncure  Robinson,  chief 
engineer,  gives  the  route  of  the  road,  the  elevation,  the  curvature,  and 
the  location  and  name  of  the  owners  of  the  farmhouses  on  the  line. 
The  map  is  in  the  attic  in  the  dome  of  the  Virginia  State  Capitol  at 
Richmond. 

6  Petersburg  Times,  quoted  in  Norfolk  Herald,  November  12, 1830. 


24         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

provements  were  undertaken,  the  Board  of  Public  Works 
would  subscribe  two  fifths  of  the  capital  in  the  name  of  the 
state  when  private  individuals  had  subscribed  three  fifths.1 
The  Petersburg  Railroad  therefore  petitioned  the  board  for 
a  subscription  on  behalf  of  the  state  of  two  fifths  of  the 
capital  stock  of  the  company.2  The  Board  of  Public  Works, 
in  its  report  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  on  Janu- 
ary 24,  1831,  recommended  that  the  subscription  be  made. 
The  cause  of  this  favorable  recommendation  was  the  belief 
that  the  investment  would  produce  a  profitable  income, 
open  up  a  choice  of  markets  between  Petersburg  and  Nor- 
folk to  the  upper  Roanoke  country,  furnish  additional 
facilities  for  transportation  to  market  of  products  along 
the  fine  of  proposed  road,  and  add  greatly  to  the  com- 
mercial prosperity  of  the  town  of  Petersburg. 

There  was  a  disadvantage  to  the  state  which  arose  when- 
ever the  question  of  investment  in  a  new  enterprise  pre- 
sented itself.  The  state  was  already  an  investor  in  the  Dis- 
mal Swamp  Canal  to  the  amount  of  $64,000.  To  encourage 
the  building  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad,  a  competitor  of 
the  canal,  would  evidently  decrease  its  traffic  and  conse- 
quently its  earning  power,  to  the  detriment  of  the  state. 
Besides  injuring  itself  financially,  the  state  through  its 
Board  of  Public  Works  must  go  on  record,  if  the  subscrip- 
tion were  made  to  the  railroad,  as  favoring  Petersburg  at 
the  expense  of  Norfolk.  This  was  the  first  instance  of  what 
was  afterward  to  become  a  perplexing  question  to  the 
state.  It  paved  the  way  to  political  strife  and  increased 
the  jealousy  which  already  existed  between  the  coast 
and  fall  line  towns.  These  considerations  had  weight  with 
the  board,  but  in  spite  of  them  they  recommended  to  the 
legislature  favorable  action. 

Acting  on  this  recommendation  the  General  Assembly 

1  Joseph  Martin,  A  New  and  Comprehensive  Gazetteer  of  Virginia, 
p.  88,  Message  of  Governor  Tazewell. 

2  Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of  Board  of  Public  Works  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  Virginia,  January  £4,  1831,  Document  No.  24,  p.  7. 


THE  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD  25 

passed  an  act  on  March  22,  1831,  authorizing  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  to  subscribe  two  fifths  of  the  capital  stock, 
payable  when  three  fifths  had  been  paid  in  by  the  public. 
On  account  of  this  subscription  the  state  was  entitled  to 
appoint  two  of  the  five  directors  of  the  company.  This  act 
was  amended  on  February  27,  1832,  so  that  the  state 
might  pay  its  subscription  when  one  half  of  the  amount 
subscribed  by  the  public  was  paid.  The  state  also  agreed 
to  borrow  $80,000,  giving  its  stock  in  the  railroad  company 
as  collateral,  in  order  to  pay  its  part.1  The  entire  subscrip- 
tion was  as  follows:  by  individuals,  $196,400;  by  Board  of 
Public  Works  on  behalf  of  the  state,  $160,000;  by  the  cor- 
poration of  Petersburg,  $43,600;  total,  $400,000. 

By  means  of  the  money  thus  collected,  with  the  aid  of 
the  farmers  who  graded  much  of  the  roadbed  with  their 
slaves,  and  with  cross-ties  and  sills  cut  from  the  pine 
forests  along  the  fine,  the  road  was  partially  in  operation 
in  the  latter  part  of  1832.  The  light  sandy  soil  and  the 
level  country  through  which  the  road  runs  facilitated  its 
construction.  The  route  followed  was  a  very  direct  one, 
the  distance  from  Petersburg  to  a  point  one  and  a  half  miles 
below  the  falls  of  the  Roanoke  being  fifty-nine  miles,  only 
three  miles  more  than  the  direct  distance.  The  curves  were 
arcs  of  circles  varying  in  diameter  from  two  to  nine  miles. 
The  maximum  grade  did  not  exceed  thirty  feet  to  the  mile. 
The  track  was  of  wood  and  iron,  yellow  pine  rails  five 
inches  by  nine  inches  were  plated  with  strips  of  iron  one 
half  by  two  inches  and  secured  with  white  oak  sills  twelve 
inches  in  diameter.  About  one  half  of  the  road  was  opened 
for  transportation  in  October,  1832,  when  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  charter  daily  trains  were  put  on  for  the  trans- 
portation of  freight  and  passengers.  The  cost  of  the  actual 
construction  exceeded  the  original  estimate  very  little. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  undertaking  up  to  November, 
1833,  the  entire  expenditure  for  all  purposes  was  $575,334. 
1  Report  of  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  1830,  p.  460. 


26        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

Additional  expense  was  incurred  in  building  depots  at 
both  ends  of  the  road  and  the  incline  plane  at  the  Roa- 
noke, and  in  buying  engines,  coaches,  and  cars.1 

By  1835  the  road  was  fairly  well  equipped,  having  seven 
locomotives  and  one  hundred  cars  of  various  kinds  in 
operation.  Besides,  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston  and  the  Greenes- 
ville  and  Roanoke  were  being  built  to  the  south.  These 
roads  when  completed  would  turn  over  to  the  Petersburg 
a  considerable  amount  of  freight  and  passengers  from  the 
interior  of  North  Carolina.  The  Richmond  and  Petersburg 
was  under  contract  to  the  north  and  would  close  the  gap 
between  the  Petersburg  and  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg, 
and  Potomac.2 

The  traffic  of  the  road  steadily  increased,  but  great  diffi- 
culty was  experienced  in  getting  freight  over  the  falls  from 
Blakely  to  Weldon.  In  the  report  of  the  road  for  the  year 
1834  the  president  complains  that  a  year  before  the  Roa- 
noke Navigation  Company  had  reported  to  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  that  in  a  few  days  the  locks  would  be  com- 
pleted so  that  boats  could  pass  up  and  down  the  river,  but 
that  the  promise  had  not  been  kept.3  In  spite  of  these  diffi- 
culties and  those  incident  to  the  newness  of  the  road,  it  was 
earning  expenses,  though  it  was  not  paying  any  dividends. 
Besides  its  regular  passenger  and  freight  traffic  the  com- 
pany had  a  contract  with  the  Post  Office  Department  to 
carry  the  mail  over  its  lines.  This  was  a  distinction  enjoyed 
at  this  time  by  only  one  other  railroad  in  the  country,  the 
Camden  and  Amboy. 

Its  connection  was  so  close  with  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston 
Railroad  and  with  the  Greenesville  and  Roanoke,  a 
eighteen  mile  line  joining  the  two,  that  contracts  were 
entered  into  with  both  companies.  The  Petersburg  was  to 

1  Report  of  President  McKenzie,  November  22,  1833,  in  Proceed- 
ings of  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  1833,  p.  182. 

8  Report  of  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  December  1,  1835. 

8  Report  of  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  1836,  Document  17, 
p.  451. 


THE  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD  27 

conduct  the  business  of  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston,  furnishing 
the  rolling  stock,  train,  and  depot  agents,  in  return  for  one 
half  of  the  gross  receipts  from  produce  and  mails,  and  one 
third  of  the  receipts  from  passengers.  The  Raleigh  and  Gas- 
ton was  to  keep  the  road  and  depots  in  repair  and  furnish 
the  labor  and  superintendence  for  the  purpose. 1  A  yearly 
rental  of  $11,000  was  paid  the  Greenes vi He  and  Roanoke 
for  trackage  rights.  This  contract  continued  until  the  latter 
road  was  finally  absorbed  by  the  Petersburg.2 

In  addition  to  the  increased  income  from  operation  in 
connection  with  these  roads,  the  Petersburg  received  on  its 
mail  contract  with  the  Post  Office  Department  $300  per 
mile.  When  the  government  entered  into  this  contract, 
the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  was  receiving 
only  $150  per  mile  for  a  similar  service.  The  government 
did  not  feel  justified  in  paying  more  because  of  existing 
contracts  which  it  had  with  the  stage  and  steamboat  own- 
ers between  Washington  and  Richmond.  The  Richmond, 
Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  was  justly  dissatisfied  and 
the  Petersburg  paid  it  $50  per  mile  out  of  its  own  funds 
in  order  to  retain  the  mail  on  the  fine  of  railroad.3 

The  reports  of  the  company  for  a  few  years  prior  to  the 
panic  of  1837  show  gradual  improvement  in  its  earnings. 
Once  on  its  feet,  the  company  allayed  the  dissatisfaction 
which  had  arisen  among  the  stockholders  because  of  its 
failure  to  pay  dividends,  by  the  payment  in  1836  of  a  10 
per  cent  dividend.  The  demoralization  of  business  which 
followed  the  panic  extended  to  the  railroad.  From  Novem- 
ber, 1836,  to  June,  1838,  no  dividends  were  paid,  and, 
although  regular  payments  were  made  to  the  stockholders 

1  Report  of  C.  F.  Osborne,  President  of  Petersburg  Railroad  Com- 
pany to  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  December  22,  1838. 

2  The  Petersburg  road  exchanged  four  shares  of  its  own  stock  for 
seven  of  the  Greenesville  and  Roanoke.  Acts  of  Virginia,  1852-53, 
ch.  172. 

3  Report  of  President  Osborne  to  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia, 
March  6,  1837. 


28         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

after  the  latter  date,  the  rate  was  never  so  high  again  until 
the  Civil  War.  The  fact  that  dividends  were  lower  was  no 
indication  of  a  falling  off  in  business.  The  opposite  was  the 
case,  and  the  fact  that  business  had  increased  necessitated 
additional  expense  in  handling  it.  The  heavy  freight  which 
the  road  was  compelled  to  carry  brought  about  a  deteriora- 
tion of  the  roadbed  and  superstructure.  The  wood  and  strap 
iron  track  was  very  expensive  to  keep  in  repair.  In  addi- 
tion much  of  the  earnings  went  into  new  equipment  so  that 
the  value  of  the  property  was  constantly  increasing  and 
the  earnings  of  the  stockholders  were  in  their  railroad 
rather  than  in  their  pockets.  The  amount  invested  in 
equipment  was  much  greater  than  would  have  been  neces- 
sary under  ordinary  conditions. 

Passenger  traffic  was  growing  rapidly,1  the  trade  on  the 
Roanoke  was  becoming  annually  larger,  as  was  the  amount 
of  freight  and  number  of  passengers  turned  over  to  the 
road  by  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston  as  it  was  extended  into 
the  Southwest.  Besides  this  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh, 
together  with  the  steamboat  line  which  it  operated  to 
Charleston,  opened  up  the  whole  eastern  section  of  North 
Carolina.2  This  volume  of  traffic  taxed  the  capacity  of  the 
road  to  its  utmost.  The  difficulties  under  which  the  road 
was  laboring  were  greatly  increased  by  the  fact  that  at  cer- 
tain seasons  of  the  year  the  wagon  roads  were  impassable 
and  the  rivers  not  navigable.  During  these  seasons  of  sus- 
pension of  inland  traffic  commodities  accumulated  in  the 
hands  of  the  farmers  or  small  buyers.  When  the  roads  and 
rivers  became  passable  this  accumulation  poured  out  upon 
the  railroad  until  it  was  overwhelmed.  Grades  which  a  few 
years  before  had  been  commented  on  by  the  chief  engineer 
as  low,  thirty  feet  to  the  mile  being  the  maximum,  now 
became  obstacles  difficult  to  overcome.  It  was  estimated  at 

1  Report  of  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  October  31,  1839. 
1  Report  of  Board  of  Directors  of  Petersburg  Railroad  Company 
to  the  stockholders,  March  4,  1839. 


THE  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD  29 

the  time  that  the  cost  of  transportation  on  level  road  was 
about  four  and  a  half  cents  per  ton  mile.  On  some  parts 
of  the  Petersburg  the  cost  was  double  this  amount.  So  it 
came  about  that  the  enlarged  traffic  of  the  road,  usually 
sought  diligently,  became  a  real  problem.  For  instance 
the  passenger  travel  from  February,  1838,  to  February, 
1839,  increased  fourfold.  During  the  year  there  were 
carried  15,199  bales  of  cotton,  6871  hogsheads  of  tobacco, 
28,767  bushels  of  grain,  10,239  kegs  of  tobacco,  and  5945 
barrels  of  flour. 

It  was  evident  that  the  road  had  reached  a  new  era.  The 
first  ten  years  of  its  existence  had  been  a  preliminary 
period  when  the  road  was  almost  purely  local.  Conditions 
by  1840  had  changed.  The  changes  had  come  about  from 
two  sources.  First  of  all  the  Petersburg  had  become  a  part 
of  a  north  and  south  system.  Although  no  physical  con- 
nection existed  with  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  or  with 
the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh,  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
the  three  roads,  together  with  the  Richmond,  Fredericks- 
burg, and  Potomac,  formed  a  great  north  and  south  route 
for  through  travel  between  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Balti- 
more, and  Charleston.  By  means  of  this  route  travelers 
could  reach  Charleston  from  New  York  in  sixty-six  hours 
or  from  Baltimore  in  forty-two  hours,  quicker  time  than 
could  be  made  by  boat.1  This  saving  of  time  on  the 
through  route  diverted  some  freight  and  much  passenger 
traffic  from  the  coastwise  route. 

Another  phenomenon  of  this  new  era  was  railroad  com- 
petition. From  the  beginning  the  road  had  been  in  compe- 
tition with  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal.  The  people  of  Nor- 
folk chafed  under  the  loss  of  business  to  Petersburg,  and 
determined  to  construct  a  road  from  Portsmouth  opposite 
Norfolk  to  Weldon  to  participate  in  the  growing  business 
which  was  developing  at  this  point.  When  the  Portsmouth 

1  Report  of  Board  of  Directors  of  Petersburg  Railroad  Company  to 
the  stockholders,  March  4,  1839. 


30         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

and  Roanoke  Company  applied  to  the  legislature  for  a 
charter,  a  long  controversy  followed.  The  people  of  Peters- 
burg and  the  Petersburg  Railroad  as  well  as  the  other  lines 
in  the  north  and  south  route  opposed  the  granting  of  the 
charter.  In  spite  of  the  opposition  the  charter  was  granted. 
The  news  reached  Norfolk  on  a  Sunday.  Bonfires  were 
built,  kegs  of  powder  exploded,  and  rockets  shot  over  the 
river.  The  road  was  built  but  was  not  successful  till  many 
years  later.  The  explanation  was  that  there  was  not  suffi- 
cient business  at  Weldon  to  support  two  lines  of  road.  The 
Petersburg  had  the  advantage  in  that  it  was  constructed 
earlier  and  was  well  under  way  when  the  Portsmouth  and 
Roanoke  was  built.  The  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  entered 
Weldon  by  means  of  a  bridge  over  the  Roanoke.  The 
Petersburg  had  never  gone  into  Weldon,  but  had  stopped 
at  Blakely.  When  no  agreement  could  be  reached  whereby 
the  Petersburg  could  use  the  bridge  and  track  of  the 
Portsmouth  and  Roanoke,  it  became  necessary  to  prolong 
the  road  from  Blakely  into  Weldon  by  a  branch  two  and 
three  quarters  miles  long  and  a  bridge  across  the  Roanoke 
below  Weldon.  This  was  one  of  the  first  results  of  com- 
petition between  the  two  roads.1 

Another  difficulty  already  referred  to  was  the  inade- 
quacy of  the  track  to  stand  the  strain  of  the  heavy  traf- 
fic. The  president  in  his  report  to  the  stockholders  March  1, 
1841,  estimated  that  the  cost  of  repairs  of  the  Boston  and 
Providence,  a  fine  laid  with  heavy  iron,  for  the  four  and  a 
half  years  previous,  had  averaged  $246  per  mile,  while  the 
cost  had  been  $663  on  the  Petersburg.  These  expenses  drew 
heavily  on  the  earnings  of  the  road.  The  fact  that  twenty- 
five  miles  of  track  per  year  on  an  average  had  to  be  relaid 
gives  some  idea  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  track.  It  was 
evident  that  it  must  soon  be  relaid  with  heavy  iron.  This 
would  reduce  the  profits  still  further. 

1  Report  of  President  Bird  to  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia, 
November  10,  1842,  p.  448. 


THE  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD  31 

Then,  too,  the  perennial  controversy  with  the  Post 
Office  Department  arose  with  the  Petersburg.  The  road 
had  to  surrender  to  the  department  the  control  of  hours  and 
to  agree  to  make  the  trip  in  the  shortest  possible  time.  The 
government  agreed  that  it  would  turn  over  the  mails  to 
the  road  without  unreasonable  delay  at  any  point.  Owing 
to  the  conditions  of  travel  it  was  difficult  to  keep  this  prom- 
ise. The  Petersburg  Railroad  was  the  middle  section  of  the 
southern  route  and  received  the  mails  from  Baltimore  and 
from  Charleston  over  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh.  The 
mails  were  delayed  sometimes  thirteen  or  fourteen  hours 
at  Baltimore  and  eighteen  or  twenty  hours  at  Charleston. 
The  Petersburg  Company  claimed  that  the  restrictions 
were  not  laid  alike  on  all  roads,  and  that  they  weighed  par- 
ticularly hard  on  its  road,  since  it  was  compelled  to  start 
its  trains  at  unseasonable  hours  and  run  at  night  at  greatly 
increased  expense  and  risk,  that  it  had  lost  double  the 
amount  of  remuneration  received  for  carrying  the  mail,  in 
travel  diverted  from  its  line.1 

The  road  was  not  prospering,  yet  this  was  doubtless 
due  to  general  mismanagement  rather  than  to  any  specific 
cause.  No  dividends  were  paid  from  December  1,  1841,  to 
July  1,  1844.  Dissatisfaction  was  increasing  among  the 
stockholders.  In  March,  1841,  they  passed  a  resolution 
that  in  view  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  country  it  was 
unwise  to  borrow  money  to  lay  an  iron  track.  In  spite  of 
this,  in  the  spring  of  1842  President  Bird  and  the  board  of 
directors  began  to  lay  new  T-rails.  At  a  meeting  called 
in  July,  1842,  sanction  for  the  improvement  was  secured, 
and  it  was  voted  to  borrow  $100,000.  In  a  month  or  so, 
however,  the  scheme  was  given  up  and  three  fourths  inch 
flat  iron  was  bought  to  relay  the  track  in  time  to  escape  the 
duty  laid  on  railroad  iron. 

The  indebtedness  of  the  company  amounted  to  $371,949, 
of  which  $120,000  had  to  be  paid  within  a  few  months, 

1  Proceedings  of  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  1842,  p.  448. 


32         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

and  there  were  no  funds  available  for  meeting  the  obliga- 
tion. Receipts  had  fallen  off  $38,841  from  the  previous 
year.  In  addition  to  the  involved  financial  condition  of  the 
company,  competition  compelled  a  30  per  cent  reduction 
in  freight  rates.  The  gross  receipts  did  not  diminish  ma- 
terially, but  they  were  received  from  carrying  a  corre- 
spondingly greater  amount  of  freight,  which  caused  a 
deterioration  of  the  roadbed  and  rolling  stock.  It  was 
evident  that  something  must  be  done.  The  usual  method  of 
escape  was  resorted  to.  An  appeal  was  made  to  the  state 
and  as  a  result  $150,000  in  bonds  of  the  state's  holdings 
were  converted  into  stock.  This  left  the  bonded  debt  of  the 
company  $136,480.*  With  this  relief  the  road  was  able  to 
resume  the  payment  of  its  semi-annual  dividends  and  thus 
enter  into  the  period  of  prosperity  which  preceded  the 
Civil  War. 

Then,  too,  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  had  failed  and 
for  a  time  the  Petersburg  was  again  without  competition 
in  handling  the  Roanoke  trade.2  A  change  was  taking 
place  in  the  nature  of  the  commodities  which  the  road  was 
handling.  The  two  main  items  of  its  freight  from  the  begin- 
ning had  been  tobacco  and  cotton.  The  tobacco  crop  of 
1848  was  short  and  cotton  cultivation  was  decreasing 
along  the  line  every  year.3  A  further  reduction  in  passenger 
fare  was  necessary  to  meet  the  competition  from  Charles- 
ton to  the  northern  cities  by  water. 

President  Bird  had  aroused  opposition  among  the  stock- 
holders a  few  years  earlier  because  of  his  action  in  violating 
the  instructions  given  at  the  general  meeting  of  the  stock- 
holders concerning  the  relaying  of  the  track.  He  was  now 
accused  by  the  officials  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg 

1  Twenty-ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works  of 
Virginia  to  the  Legislature,  December  2,  1844.  Report  of  Petersburg 
Railroad  Company. 

2  Report  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company  to  Board  of  Public 
Works  of  Virginia,  1847,  p.  09. 

8  Report  of  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  1848,  p.  370. 


THE  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD  33 

and  of  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  of  try- 
ing to  divert  travel  and  mail  from  the  Petersburg  to  the 
James  River  and  Bay  Line  to  the  detriment  of  the  lines  to 
the  north.  The  whole  matter  was  investigated  in  accordance 
with  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Delegates  on  December 
18,  1848,  to  have  transmitted  to  them  by  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  the  charges  brought  by  Wirt  Robinson, 
president  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg,  and  by  Edward 
Robinson,  president  of  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and 
Potomac.  The  charges  were  that  there  was  a  systematic 
attempt  on  the  part  of  Bird  to  divert  travel  and  the  mail 
to  the  James  River  and  Bay  Line.  He  was  accused  of  delay- 
ing the  trains  of  the  Petersburg  until  after  the  departure  of 
the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  for  Richmond,  thus  forcing 
travelers  against  their  will  to  go  north  by  water.  Letters 
were  produced  in  substantiation,  to  the  effect  that  Bird 
seemed  to  be  in  collusion  with  hotel- keepers  and  the  river 
and  bay  boat  line. 1  Bird  denied  the  charges,  and  in  defense 
produced  letters  from  the  Postmaster  General  showing 
that  he  had  made  every  effort  to  have  the  Richmond,  Fred- 
ericksburg, and  Potomac  keep  the  mails,  as  it  would  insure 
the  use  of  his  own  road;  that  he  had  volunteered  to  pay  the 
difference  between  what  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg, 
and  Potomac  wanted  and  what  the  Post  Office  Department 
offered,  provided  the  government  would  grant  a  25  per 
cent  increase  for  night  transportation.  He  claimed  that 
when  his  efforts  were  unsuccessful  he  rearranged  his 
schedule  so  as  to  connect  with  the  river  and  bay  line  rather 
than  lose  the  mail  service  to  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke 
line.  The  whole  matter  soon  blew  over.  Bird  was  acquitted 
of  the  charges  and  voted  innocent  by  his  board  of  directors. 
The  Richmond  and  Petersburg  and  the  Richmond,  Fred- 
ericksburg, and  Potomac  bought  out  the  boat  line  and 
again  secured  the  mail  contract  upon  as  favorable  terms  as 
formerly. 

x  Report  of  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  1848,  pp.  559-66. 


34         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

The  ten-year  period  just  previous  to  the  Civil  War  was 
one  of  marked  prosperity.  The  receipts  from  all  sources 
ranged  from  $211,000  to  $250,000.  Expenses  were  well  be- 
low these  figures  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  entire  road 
was  re  laid  in  1850  with  new  U-rails  of  fifty  pounds  to  the 
yard.  These  were  bought  at  a  very  advantageous  figure 
and  a  saving  of  about  $75,000  was  effected.1  Some  of  these 
were  replaced  from  1855  to  1859  by  fifty-pound  T-rails, 
including  the  Gaston  Branch,  formerly  the  Greenes vi He 
and  Roanoke.2  It  was  well  for  the  road  that  it  was  in  tnis 
strong  position,  for  it  was  again  to  enter  into  competition 
with  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  which  began  to  run  its 
trains  for  a  second  time  on  November  25,  1851.  More- 
over, the  confidence  placed  in  the  company  by  the  public 
was  to  suffer  a  shock  because  of  the  defalcation  of  Presi- 
dent Bird  to  the  amount  of  $31,298.3  He  had  for  the 
greater  part  of  his  term  been  engaged  in  a  controversy  of 
some  kind  and  by  no  means  enjoyed  the  entire  confidence 
of  those  who  had  had  dealings  with  the  road.  He  admitted 
collecting  from  agents  from  time  to  time  money  which  he 
did  not  turn  over  to  the  company.4  He  resigned  as  presi- 
dent of  the  road  and  later  replaced  most  of  the  funds 
which  he  had  misappropriated. 

The  only  other  events  of  interest  during  the  period 
were :  the  acquisition  of  the  Greenesville  and  Roanoke  which 
connected  the  Petersburg  and  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston; 
the  loss  by  fire  of  the  bridge  across  the  Roanoke  at 
Weldon;  and  the  transfer  of  the  state's  interest  ($323,500) 
to  the  town  of  Petersburg  to  be  applied  to  the  construction 
of  the  Southside  Railroad.5  The  Petersburg,  like  all  the 
Virginia  lines  north  of  it  and  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon 

1  Letters  of  H.  D.  Bird  to  James  Brown,  Jr.,  November  10,  1852. 

2  Report  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  1859. 

3  Report  of  committee  appointed  by  Common  Council  of  Petersburg 
on  defalcation  of  H.  D.  Bird,  March,  1855. 

*  Report  of  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  March  3,  1855. 
6  Acts  of  Virginia,  Marcli  13,  1849,  ch.  152. 


THE  RICHMOND  AND  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD    35 

to  the  south,  was  in  a  prosperous  condition  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Civil  War.  In  1860  it  paid  a  10  per  cent  divi- 
dend.1 

The  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad 

The  next  Virginia  road  in  point  of  time  and  the  parent 
road  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  was  the  Richmond  and 
Petersburg,  chartered  on  March  14,  1836. 2  The  capital  of 
the  company  consisted  of  $300,000,  to  be  subscribed  by 
private  individuals,  and  "any  amount  which  the  Board 
of  Public  Works  may  be  authorized  to  subscribe  on  behalf 
of  the  state  at  the  present  session  of  the  Legislature."  3 
The  stock  of  the  company  was  regarded  as  personal  prop- 
erty and  was  exempt  from  taxation.4  The  charter  further 
provided  that  books  were  to  be  opened  both  at  Richmond 
and  at  Petersburg,  and  that  when  $15,000  should  be  sub- 
scribed by  the  public  the  company  was  to  be  considered 
as  incorporated.5  A  five-dollar  cash  deposit  was  required  of 
each  subscriber  at  the  time  of  subscription  and  the  remain- 
der was  to  be  paid  at  the  call  of  the  president  and  board  of 
directors.  In  case  the  subscriber  was  unable  or  refused  to 
pay  his  subscription,  his  shares  were  to  be  sold  at  public 
auction  to  the  highest  bidder  and  the  sum  due  was  to  be 
taken  out  of  the  proceeds.  The  remainder  after  the  ex- 
penses of  sale  were  deducted  was  to  be  returned  to  the 
subscriber.  In  case,  however,  the  share  or  shares  did  not 
bring  enough  to  satisfy  the  claim  and  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  sale,  the  deficit  was  made  recoverable  in  the 
court  of  the  county  in  which  the  original  owner  lived.6 

In  case  the  $300,000  should  prove  to  be  an  insufficient 
amount  of  capital  for  building  and  equipping  the  road,  the 
president  and  board  of  directors  were  authorized  to  issue 

1  See  Appendix,  Table  I. 

2  Charter  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  p.  11. 
Published  by  T.  W.  White,  Richmond,  Virginia,  1836. 

3  Charter,  p.  12.  Session  referred  to,  1835-36. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  23.  6  Ibid.,  p.  13.  6  Ibid.,  p.  15. 


36         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

$500,000  additional  stock,  making  a  total  of  $800,000 
capital.  The  holders  of  the  original  stock  had  the  privilege 
of  subscribing  to  this  additional  issue  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  already  held.  The  company  was  also  given  power 
to  borrow  money  on  certificates  of  indebtedness,  convert- 
ible into  the  stock  at  the  option  of  the  holder,  provided 
that  the  amount  of  stock  should  not  exceed  $800,000  unless 
such  loan  should  be  agreed  to  at  a  general  meeting  of  the 
stockholders. l 

The  right  of  eminent  domain  was  conferred  on  the 
company  except  in  the  city  of  Richmond  and  in  the  town  of 
Petersburg  where  tracks  could  not  be  laid  in  the  streets 
without  the  consent  of  the  common  council.  The  road  was 
to  provide  an  eighty  foot  right  of  way  except  in  deep  cuts 
and  fills.  Not  more  than  an  acre  and  a  half  could  be  con- 
demned for  site  of  a  depot  or  other  building.2  When  land 
had  been  condemned  for  a  depot  or  other  purposes,  if  the 
president  of  the  road,  the  board  of  directors,  and  the  owner 
could  not  agree  on  the  amount  of  damage,  they  were  to 
apply  to  the  court  of  the  county  in  which  the  land  lay, 
asking  that  a  committee  of  "five  discreet,  intelligent, 
disinterested  and  impartial  freeholders'*  be  appointed  to 
assess  the  damage.  The  court  was  to  instruct  the  commit- 
tee as  to  how  the  damage  should  be  assessed,  and  forms 
according  to  which  their  report  was  to  be  made  were  pre- 
scribed.3 

In  addition  to  the  right  of  eminent  domain,  the  com- 
pany could  enter  upon  land,  cut  timber,  quarry  stone,  and 
take  away  earth  or  gravel  to  be  used  in  construction,  the 
exception  being  made  that  no  fruit  tree  or  tree  preserved 
in  a  field  or  lot  for  shade  or  ornament  could  be  cut,  and  no 
stone  or  gravel  forming  part  of  a  fence  or  building  could 
be  carried  away.4  In  case  of  disagreement  between  the 
president  of  the  road  and  the  owner  of  the  soil,  gravel, 
or  timber,  provision  was  made  for  the  appointment  of  a 

1  Charter,  p.  16.       2  Ibid.,  p.  17.       3  Ibid.,  p.  18.       4  Ibid.,  p.  21. 


THE  RICHMOND  AND  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD    37 

committee  to  assess  the  damages. 1  Power  was  also  given 
to  the  company  to  cross  public  roads  provided  the  public 
highway  was  not  changed  materially  in  direction  and  pro- 
vided further  that  any  new  road  constructed  should  be  in 
equally  as  good  condition  as  the  one  altered.2 

Another  provision  of  this  somewhat  peculiar  document 
related  to  the  building  and  operating  of  bridges.  The  road 
was  allowed  to  construct  its  bridges  in  such  a  manner  that 
in  addition  to  the  regular  purpose  they  might  be  used  for 
travel  by  horseback,  carriage,  sheep,  cattle,  and  hogs.  It 
was  permitted  to  charge  tolls  for  such  use  and  rates  were 
prescribed.  This  provision  applied  to  all  the  streams  crossed 
by  the  road  with  the  exception  of  the  James  River  at  Rich- 
mond. The  bridge  at  this  point  could  be  used  as  a  railroad 
bridge  only  unless  the  permission  of  the  owners  of  Mayo's 
Bridge  was  secured.3 

The  method  of  counting  votes  in  the  meetings  of  the  stock- 
holders was  as  follows :  each  member  had  one  vote  for  each 
share  owned  not  exceeding  two ;  one  for  each  two  owned  not 
exceeding  ten;  and  one  vote  for  every  five  shares  above  ten, 
provided  no  shareholder  should  have  more  than  sixty  votes.4 

Looked  at  from  the  standpoint  of  the  modern  railroad 
student,  one  of  the  striking  provisions  of  the  charter  was 
that  regarding  rates.  For  passengers  a  charge  of  eight  cents 
per  mile  could  be  made  except  in  case  the  passenger  was 
carried  ten  miles  or  less,  when  a  charge  of  fifty  cents  extra 
could  be  made  to  pay  for  stopping  and  starting  the  train. 
The  rate  for  freight  could  not  exceed  ten  cents  per  hundred 
pounds  per  mile  of  haul.5  Fifteen  per  cent  dividends  were 
the  maximum  which  the  road  could  declare,  and  it  was 
provided  that  when  net  earnings  should  be  such  as  to  allow 
more  than  such  dividend,  the  freight  and  passenger  charges 
should  be  reduced  to  a  point  where  a  dividend  of  only 
15  per  cent  could  be  made.6 

1  Charter,  p.  22.  2  Ibid.,  p.  23.  8  Ibid.,  p.  25. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  26.  B  Ibid.,  p.  24.  6  Ibid.,  p.  27. 


38         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

At  the  same  session  of  the  legislature  at  which  the  Rich- 
mond and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company  applied  for  its 
charter,  the  Manchester  and  Petersburg  Turnpike  Com- 
pany also  made  application  for  an  increase  of  its  stock  to 
$400,000  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  railroad  from  Rich- 
mond to  Petersburg  along  its  roadbed,  under  such  restric- 
tions as  might  seem  just  and  reasonable  to  the  General 
Assembly.1  The  turnpike  company  asked  that  if  permis- 
sion to  build  the  road  were  refused  it  and  were  granted  to 
some  other  company,  it  should  be  allowed  an  indemnity, 
whereupon  it  would  turn  its  stock  over  to  the  railroad  com- 
pany within  six  months.2 

Many  of  the  provisions  of  this  charter  seem  strange  at 
the  present  time  and  are  given  at  length  only  because  they 
are  representative  of  those  of  all  the  early  railroads  built 
in  this  section  of  the  United  States.  The  road  has  interest 
for  the  student  of  railroads  because  it  was  one  of  the  earli- 
est of  those  built  along  the  Atlantic  coast;  was  the  nucleus 
around  which  a  great  railroad  system  has  been  built;  and 
was  and  still  is,  as  a  part  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Rail- 
road, the  connecting  link  between  the  roads  that  converge 
at  Petersburg  and  at  Richmond.  Throughout  its  entire 
history  and  that  of  its  successors  it  has  never  undergone  a 
reorganization,  a  fact,  however,  which  is  due  largely  to  the 
liberality  of  the  state  of  Virginia. 

The  first  board  of  directors  consisted  of  five  members, 
three  of  whom  were  selected  by  the  stockholders  and  two 
appointed  by  the  state.3  The  territory  through  which  the 
road  runs  was  in  general  favorable  to  railroad  building, 
with  the  exception  of  some  small  creeks,  the  James  River 
at  Richmond,  and  the  Appomattox  at  Petersburg.  The 
bridging  of  these  streams,  especially  of  the  two  rivers,  and 
the  maintenance  of  the  bridges  proved  a  heavy  cost  to  the 
company. 

1  Vernon  s  Railroad  Manual,  1874,  p.  330.  2  Charter,  p.  27. 

3  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxix,  p.  218. 


THE  RICHMOND  AND  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD    39 

The  charter  was  granted  by  the  Virginia  legislature  in 
March,  1836, x  and  in  May  of  the  same  year  a  construction 
company  was  organized  to  build  the  road.2  The  first  presi- 
dent was  W.  H.  McFarland,  and  upon  his  election  as 
lieutenant  governor  of  the  state,  he  was  succeeded  by  Hol- 
den  Rhodes.  The  company  soon  bought  the  Manchester 
and  Petersburg  Turnpike  Company  as  provided  by  the 
charter,  and  in  the  summer  work  was  begun  under  Mon- 
cure  Robinson  as  chief  engineer.  He  estimated  that  the  cost 
of  the  road  would  be  $600,000,  which  proved  in  the  end  to 
be  $38,000  less  than  the  actual  cost.  In  his  preliminary 
report  of  December  19,  1835,  he  placed  the  estimate  at 
$571,059.  He  anticipated  both  local  and  through  trade 
from  the  completion  of  this,  the  closing  link  in  the  line 
of  railroad  communication  through  the  state,  and  a  "hand- 
some trade"  in  certain  articles  of  freight  including  coal 
and  cotton.3 

Work  had  not  progressed  far  when  the  panic  of  1837  and 
the  subsequent  business  depression  came.  This  was  a  se- 
vere blow  to  the  road.  Subscriptions  came  in  slowly  and  the 
work  was  often  at  a  standstill.  Nearly  the  whole  line  was 
under  contract  and  full  supplies  of  materials  had  been 
engaged.  The  board  of  directors  was  therefore  compelled 
to  carry  on  the  work  by  means  of  requisitions  on  the  stock- 
holders, who  were  also  suffering  in  their  private  finances. 
Moreover,  the  credit  of  the  road  being  destroyed,  larger 
sums  of  money  were  required.4  The  state  came  to  the  res- 
cue of  the  struggling  road  by  paying  in  advance  the  amount 
subscribed  by  the  Board  of  Public  Works  and  also  by 
granting  loans.  The  amount  thus  secured  was  $98,000, 
afterward  increased  to  $150,000.  It  bore  interest  at  6  per 

1  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1835-36,  ch.  121. 

2  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxix,  p.  219. 

3  Report  of  Moncure  Robinson,  chief  engineer,  December  19,  1835. 
Published  by  T.  W.  White,  Richmond,  1836. 

4  Report  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  May 
14,  1838. 


40         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

cent  and  the  principal  was  repayable  in  $15,000  install- 
ments every  six  months  beginning  with  the  date  of  the 
fourth  semi-annual  payment  of  interest.  The  company  not 
only  failed  to  pay  the  installments  as  they  fell  due,  but 
could  not  pay  the  interest  which  had  accumulated  to  the 
amount  of  $35,600.  In  addition  to  the  aid  which  was  se- 
cured from  the  state,  $61,500  was  obtained  from  England. 
An  agent  was  sent  to  London  authorized  to  sell  one  hundred 
6  per  cent  $1500  bonds  due  in  1853.  He  failed  to  dispose  of 
the  whole  number,  selling  but  forty-one.  The  $61,500  thus 
gained  was  repaid  in  1853  from  the  proceeds  of  another 
issue.1  The  company  was  thus  tided  over  the  panic  period; 
but  it  found  itself  unable  to  meet  its  obligations  to  the 
state,  whereupon  the  legislature  passed  an  act  in  1843 
authorizing  the  conversion  of  its  loan  into  stock  of  the 
company,  on  which  a  3  per  cent  dividend  was  guaranteed.2 
This  was  regularly  met  by  the  road  although  in  a  few 
instances  it  had  to  be  paid  by  means  of  short-time 
loans.3  Arrangement  was  made  in  1838  with  the  Ches- 
terfield Railroad  Company  for  the  transfer  of  all  coal 
designed  for  Richmond  or  Petersburg  to  the  Richmond 
and  Petersburg.  By  a  slight  elevation  of  the  Chesterfield 
Road  at  the  point  of  intersection,  the  Richmond  and 
Petersburg  was  enabled  to  pass  under  it,  thereby  facili- 
tating transfer  of  the  coal  and  obviating  all  danger  of 
collision. 4 

The  roadbed  terminated  at  Manchester  across  the  river 
from  Richmond  and  connected  with  that  city  by  a  bridge. 
Negro  slaves  were  used  extensively  in  the  construction  of 
the  road.  The  president  reported  on  December  1,  1837, 
that  the  disbursements  of  the  month  of  January  would 
be  heavy,  as  the  hire  of  negroes  was  then  to  be  paid 

1  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxix,  p.  219. 

2  Act  of  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1842-43,  ch.  103,  p.  71. 

3  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxix,  p.  219. 

4  Report  of  President  Rhodes  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad 
Company,  May  14,  1838. 


THE  RICHMOND  AND  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD    41 

and  their  clothing  provided.1  In  May,  1838,  the  road 
was  put  in  use  from  Pocahontas  to  Manchester,  and  in 
September  of  that  year  it  was  extended  to  the  depot  at 
Richmond,  the  bridge  over  the  James  River  being  com- 
pleted. 

As  soon  as  the  road  was  opened,  the  services  of  the  com- 
pany were  tendered  to  the  Postmaster  General  for  trans- 
portation of  the  mail,  and  with  his  assent  the  stage  con- 
tract was  transferred  to  the  railroad  for  the  remainder  of 
the  year  1838  at  a  price  of  $1260  per  year.  The  first  actual 
mail  contract  was  from  January  1,  1839,  to  June  30,  1843, 
and  was  $237.50  per  mile  per  year,  or  $5581  per  year.2 
Within  two  years  bitter  complaints  were  made  concerning 
this  contract.  The  road  claimed  that  having  given  up  the 
control  of  its  hours  of  departure  to  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment, it  was  obliged  to  run  at  high  speed  to  deliver  on 
time,  and  with  all  the  responsibilities  involved  received  no 
greater  pay  than  for  carrying  leisurely  the  same  space 
filled  with  merchandise.3 

Up  to  1843  the  rails  were  of  wooden  string  pieces  with 
a  fight  flat  bar  rail  nailed  to  the  top  of  these  stringers.  In 
this  year,  however,  new  iron  rails  (two  and  one  half  by 
three  fourths  inches)  were  put  down  and  were  used  for  ten 
years.4  A  heavy  duty  placed  on  iron  in  March,  1843,  made 
the  improvement  imperative  before  that  date.5  In  1853 
the  legislature  of  the  state  passed  an  act  giving  the  road 
permission  to  issue  7  per  cent  coupon  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  $150,000  to  enable  the  company  "to  complete  an  edge 
rail  superstructure  over  the  whole  line  of  its  road  and  of 

1  Report  of  President  Rhodes  to  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia, 
December  1,  1837. 

2  Report  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  May  31, 
1839.  First  report  after  opening  of  road. 

3  Report  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company  to  Board 
of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  1841. 

4  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxix,  p.  218. 

5  Report  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  October 
31,  1842. 


42        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

the  branch  road  to  Port  Walthall."  1  From  the  proceeds 
of  the  sale  of  these  bonds  the  entire  line  was  relaid  with 
fifty-one-pound  rails  and  the  necessary  equipment  was 
added.  2  3  The  small  locomotives  first  used  had  been 
brought  from  England.  These  were  now  replaced  by  larger 
and  better  ones. 

One  of  the  chief  problems  of  the  maintenance  of  the 
road  arose  from  the  fact  that  it  had  a  considerable  number 
of  bridges  to  keep  in  repair.  Richmond  is  situated  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  James  and  Petersburg  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  Appomattox,  thus  necessitating  two  bridges. 
At  the  opening  of  the  road  there  were  no  bridges  used,  the 
line  terminating  at  the  banks  of  the  rivers.  At  Petersburg 
the  old  turnpike  bridge  secured  from  the  Manchester  and 
Petersburg  -Turnpike  Company  was  used  as  a  wagon 
bridge.  Freight  and  passengers  were  carried  across  in 
wagons  and  omnibuses.  A  railroad  bridge  at  Richmond  was 
finished  in  September,  1838,  after  the  completion  of  the 
road  in  May  of  that  year.4  The  old  wagon  bridge  at  Peters- 
burg was  destroyed  by  a  freshet  in  January,  1840,  and  the 
rebuilding  of  it  was  a  severe  tax  upon  the  company.  This 
blow,  coupled  with  the  depression  of  business  in  1841  and 
1842  following  the  panic  of  1837,  and  the  bad  condition  of 
the  track  at  this  time  so  reduced  the  earnings  that  the  com- 
pany could  not  pay  a  dividend.5  The  decrease  of  net  earn- 
ings is  shown  by  the  following  figures: 

1840 $32,095         1842 $22,941 

1841 27,814         1843 15,158  8 

It  was  thought  that  the  passenger  receipts  could  be  in- 

1  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1853-54,  ch.  51,  p.  35. 

2  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxix,  p.  218. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  xxvi,  p.  538.  Quotation  from  Richmond  Times,  1853, 
states  that  2027  tons  of  rails  had  been  bought,  sufficient  to  relay  the 
whole  road. 

4  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxix,  p.  218.  B  Ibid.,  p.  219. 
6  Taken  from  the  reports  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad 

Company  for  these  years. 


THE  RICHMOND  AND  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD    43 

creased  if  a  short  arm  were  built  to  Port  Walthall,  near  the 
junction  of  the  James  and  x\ppomattox  Rivers.  Accord- 
ingly, at  the  regular  meeting  of  the  stockholders  in  May, 
1842,  it  was  decided  to  build  this  three-mile  arm.  It  was 
completed  in  1844  and  at  the  same  time  a  steam  tug  for 
towing  vessels  into  port  was  bought.1  The  entire  cost  of 
these  improvements  was  $40,000  and  it  proved  to  be  a  very 
profitable  investment.  Passengers  were  now  able  to  come 
by  boat  up  the  James  and  reach  the  main  line  of  the  Rich- 
mond and  Petersburg  Railroad,  traveling  to  northern 
points  such  as  Washington,  Baltimore,  New  York,  and 
Philadelphia  through  Richmond,  and  to  southern  points 
through  Petersburg.  Ships  bound  for  foreign  ports  were 
also  loaded  with  freight  brought  from  the  interior.  Another 
object  was  to  participate  in  the  passenger  business  be- 
tween Richmond  and  Norfolk.  Attempts  were  made  to 
induce  a  steamboat  company  to  run  in  connection.  Failing 
in  this  an  investment  was  made  in  the  Norfolk  and  Port 
Walthall  Steamboat  Association  to  prevent  any  combina- 
tion being  formed  with  other  steamboat  lines  on  the  bay 
prejudicial  to  the  company.2  The  branch  road  continued 
in  operation  until  the  Civil  War  when  it  was  partially  de- 
molished and  never  rebuilt.3 

The  improvement  in  the  financial  condition  of  the  road 
which  took  place  at  this  time  can  be  attributed  in  part  to 
these  changes,  though  some  of  it  was  doubtless  due  to  re- 
turning prosperity.  The  report  of  the  Richmond  and  Peters- 
burg for  184.5  did  not  contain  the  earnings  and  expenses  of 
the  Port  Walthall  Branch,  but  that  of  1846  did.  The  net 
earnings  of  the  road  increased  from  $17,246  in  1845  to 
$33,586  in  1846,  a  total  of  $16,340  for  the  year. 

1  Report  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  May 
28,  1844. 

2  Ibid.,  May  26,  1846. 

3  Statement  filed  by  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company  with 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 


44        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

1845  1846 

Passengers $31,729  $36,716 

Freight $21,372  $35,590 

Mail $6,101  $6,561 

$59,202  $78,867 

Total  expenses $41,957  $45,282 

$17,245  $33,585 


Another  experiment  made  at  this  time  was  the  leasing 
of  the  Clover  Hill  Railroad,  a  twenty-one-mile  line  built 
in  1844  and  extending  from  the  main  line  nine  miles  north 
of  Petersburg  to  Clover  Hill  in  Chesterfield  County  to  tap 
the  coal  mines  at  that  place.2  This  proved  to  be  a  good 
move  on  the  part  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg,  and  in 
commenting  on  it  later  the  president  said  that  the  annual 
income  which  came  from  hauling  the  coal  turned  over  to  it 
by  the  Clover  Hill  exceeded  that  which  came  to  the  main 
line  from  the  transportation  of  all  other  freight  including 
mail,  express,  and  excess  baggage.3  The  amount  carried 
from  Clover  Hill  to  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  from 
1853  to  1867  was  as  follows: 4 

1853 52,100  tons         1861 44,199  tons 

1854 53,478  tons         1862 50,608  tons 

1855 45,430  tons         1863 37,168  tons 

1856 36,857  tons         1864 36,385  tons 

1857 44,836  tons         1865 5,743  tons 

1858 49,022  tons         1866 18,315  tons 

1859 44,992  tons        1867 16,414  tons 

1860 42,857  tons 

The  general  freight  to  and  from  Clover  Hill  from  1853  to 
1867  ran  from  52 J  to  1685  tons,  averaging  885  tons;  pas- 
sengers ran  from  156  to  1644,  averaging  203  per  year.  The 
price  of  labor  at  this  period  can  be  ascertained  from  the 

1  Compiled  from  the  Reports  of  1845  and  1846. 

2  Poors  Manual,  1868-69,  p.  206. 

3  Report  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  1870, 
p.  751. 

4  Poors  Manual,  1868-69,  p.  206. 


THE  RICHMOND  AND  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD    45 

statement  in  the  report  of  1847  that  there  were  engaged  in 
the  shops  and  offices  of  the  company,  exclusive  of  salaried 
officers,  24  white  employees  at  75  cents  to  $1.75  per  day, 
and  about  20  blacks  hired  by  the  year  at  a  hire  not  exceed- 
ing $30  each.1 

In  1848  the  mail  controversy  again  arose.  Because  of  a 
disagreement  between  the  Post  Office  Department  and  the 
Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  resulting  in  the 
transfer  of  mails  to  the  bay  route,  the  northern  and  south- 
ern through  mail  was  taken  from  the  Richmond  and  Peters- 
burg in  December,  1848.  Only  $100  per  mile  was  offered  for 
the  transportation  of  way  mail,  and  the  offer  being  refused, 
all  mail  left  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  by  April,  1849, 
local  mail  being  carried  over  turnpikes  after  that  date.2 
This  situation  did  not  last  long  and  by  December  4,  1849, 
the  differences  were  adjusted  and  mail  restored  to  the  com- 
pany at  the  price  formerly  paid.3 

Another  dispute  had  arisen  in  the  meantime  in  regard 
to  the  number  of  directors  the  Board  of  Pub  he  Works, 
representing  the  state  interest,  might  appoint.  The  truth 
seems  to  have  been  that  the  state  owned  more  than  two 
fifths,  but  less  than  three  fifths  of  the  stock,  and  each  side 
claimed  the  right  to  appoint  the  decisive  third  man. 
Mr.  N.  M.  Martin,  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Public 
Works,  was  refused  admittance  at  the  meeting  of  direc- 
tors,4 and  immediately  took  occasion  to  formulate  a  series 
of  charges  of  mismanagement  on  the  part  of  the  rail- 
road, which  document  he  filed  with  the  Board  of  Public 
Works.5  These  charges,  particularly  that  of  collusion  with 
the  Port  Walthall  and  Norfolk  Steamboat  Association, 

1  Report  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  October 
1,  1847. 

2  Ibid.,  May  30,  1848.  3  Ibid.,  1849. 

4  Report  of  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia  to  Legislature,  De- 
cember 4,  1848. 

5  Report  of  N.  M.  Martin  to  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia, 
October  2,  1848,  p.  535. 


46         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

were  refuted  by  President  Wirt  Robinson  and  the  matter 
blew  over.1 

Relations  of  the  road  with  the  Post  Office  Department 
were  continually  under  strain.  In  1854  the  difficulties  in 
mail  service  were  detailed;  insufficient  remuneration  for 
the  large  amount  of  night  service  rendered,  and  loss  of  local 
travel  from  fixing  of  hours  by  the  Post  Office  Department.2 
In  1855  the  same  complaints  were  made  and  the  resolution 
passed  not  to  transport  United  States  mail  after  July  1  at 
less  than  the  present  rate,  a  cut  having  been  threatened, 
and  not  to  transport  it  on  any  terms  unless  the  Postmaster 
General  would  agree  to  stipulate  that  mail  be  received  at 
hours  not  later  than  those  at  which  travel  would  be  re- 
ceived by  it  from  companies  on  present  mail  routes  north 
of  Richmond  and  south  of  Petersburg.3 

In  1858  the  average  rate  of  speed  adopted  by  passenger 
trains  on  the  road  including  stops  was  17.6  miles  per  hour, 
in  motion  20  to  25  miles  per  hour;  while  that  of  freight 
trains  with  stops  was  10  miles,  and  in  motion  12  miles.4 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  the  operating  ratio  of 
the  road  had  decreased  from  74  per  cent  in  1850  to  44  per 
cent  in  1860.  Plans  for  connecting  with  the  Richmond, 
Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  and  the  Petersburg  were 
already  under  way  but  were  necessarily  interrupted  by 
hostilities.5 

The  situation  in  eastern  Virginia  up  to  the  Civil  War 
may  be  summarized  by  saying  that  intense  rivalry  existed 
among  all  the  cities.  Each  promoted  that  enterprise  which 
seemed  most  likely  to  advance  its  own  interest.  Richmond 
and  Lynchburg  at  first  were  particularly  interested  in  the 
James  River  and  Kanawha  Canal.  Norfolk,  jealous  of  the 
growth  of  the  fall  line  towns,  was  trying  to  secure  trade 
from  the  West  in  a  roundabout  way  so  that  it  might  not 

1  President  Robinson  to  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  Janu- 
ary 9,  1849. 

2  Report  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  1854. 

"  Ibid.,  1855.  4  Ibid.,  1858.  6  See  Appendix,  Table  II. 


SUMMARY  47 

have  to  go  through  Richmond.  She  was  securing  much  trade 
from  the  Roanoke  section  of  North  Carolina  through  the 
Dismal  Swamp  Canal.  Fredericksburg,  Richmond,  and 
Petersburg,  situated  at  the  falls,  were  on  the  direct  line 
of  an  ever-increasing  north  and  south  current  of  traffic, 
largely  passenger,  over  poor  roads  which  connected  them. 
With  the  application  of  steam  to  transportation  and  the 
introduction  and  improvement  of  railroads,  these  north 
and  south  currents  became  more  and  more  important  and 
water  transportation  both  by  canal  and  river  declined. 
Situated  at  the  head  of  navigation,  these  towns  had  early 
become  important  trading  centers.  The  ascendency  thus 
gained  put  them  in  a  position  to  take  advantage  of  the  new 
method  of  transportation.  It  was  but  the  logical  outcome 
of  events  that  they  should  be  the  first  to  build  railroads. 
The  independent  lines  constructed  to  give  them  the  desired 
connection  were  finally  consolidated  into  the  Atlantic 
Coast  Line. 


CHAPTER  IV 

NORTH  CAROLINA  AND  THE  WILMINGTON 
AND  WELDON  RAILROAD  BEFORE  1860 

Economic  Conditions 

The  one  outstanding  fact  in  the  economic  development  of 
North  Carolina  is  that  the  state  made  but  slight  advance- 
ment from  the  end  of  the  colonial  period  up  to  about  the 
year  1835.  Conditions  were  somewhat  similar  to  those 
in  Virginia.  The  influential  portion  of  the  population  lived 
in  the  eastern  section  and  dominated  the  policy  of  the  en- 
tire state.  It  was  not  until  after  the  adoption  of  a  new 
constitution,  which  transferred  the  election  of  governor 
from  the  legislature  directly  to  the  people,  that  there  be- 
gan a  general  movement  for  improvement. 

North  Carolina  has  always  been  preeminently  an  agri- 
cultural state.  It  produces  all  kinds  of  grain,  cotton,  rice, 
indigo,  tobacco,  hemp,  and  fruits,  with  abundant  pasturage 
in  the  mountains.  In  addition  to  purely  agricultural  prod- 
ucts, timber  has  played  an  important  part  in  its  economic 
development.  Pine  covers  large  areas  and  furnishes  the 
material  from  which  turpentine  is  distilled.  Prior  to  the 
Civil  War  turpentine  production  gave  direct  employment 
to  four  or  five  thousand  laborers,  and  ten  or  fifteen  thou- 
sand more  were  supported  by  the  proceeds  of  its  first  sale.  * 
The  state  is  watered  by  a  number  of  rivers  of  considerable 
size,  but  in  comparison  with  their  size  and  number  they 
afford  few  facilities  for  navigation.  The  chief  problem  of 
the  farmer  therefore  was  one  of  transportation. 

Besides  the  difficulties  in  transportation  the  state  suf- 
fered after  the  War  of  1812  from  the  fact  that  it  found  a 

1  De  Bow,  Industrial  Resources  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States, 
vol.  ii,  p.  172. 


NORTH  CAROLINA  BEFORE  1860  49 

market  for  all  its  products  outside  its  own  borders.  In 
short,  there  was  no  home  market  of  importance  in  which 
the  farmer  could  dispose  of  his  surplus  and  purchase  his 
necessities.  He  secured  his  supplies  abroad  and  when  the 
time  of  payment  came  all  the  specie  was  drained  out  of  the 
state.  The  state  banks  could  not  or  did  not  prevent  this. 
They  issued  notes  which  were  collected  in  great  numbers 
in  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  Tennessee  and  sent  home 
for  redemption.  It  was  felt  that  the  crying  need  was  to 
concentrate  the  commerce  of  the  state  at  one  or  two  points 
and  do  the  trading  there.  The  total  annual  profit  which 
went  to  other  states  from  the  business  of  North  Carolina 
was  estimated  at  more  than  a  half-million.1 

The  state  occupied  a  unique  position  in  regard  to  its 
trade  and  transportation  after  the  War  of  1812.  The  ex- 
ports immediately  preceding  the  Revolution  were  at  least 
double  what  they  were  in  1853. 2  It  was  estimated  in  1819 
that  500,000  people  had  left  for  the  wilderness  of  the 
West.3  While  a  drain  of  this  magnitude  was  going  on  any 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  state  to  develop  its  internal  re- 
sources was  practically  impossible.  The  population  at  this 
time  was  700,000,  scattered  over  the  whole  area.4  This  in 
itself  was  an  impediment  to  improvement  and  would  have 
made  progress  slow  even  where  there  were  fewer  obstacles 
to  be  overcome. 

North  Carolina  offered  peculiar  difficulties  on  account 
of  the  nature  of  the  configuration  of  its  seashore  and  the 
obstacles  to  navigation  which  arose  from  the  nature  of  its 
rivers.  The  ocean  currents  which  are  set  in  motion  by  the 
Gulf  Stream  meet  the  currents  of  the  rivers  which  flow 

1  C.  C.  Weaver,  Internal  Improvements  in  North  Carolina  to  1860, 
Johns  Hopkins  University  Historical  Studies,  1903,  p.  21. 

2  De  Bow,  Industrial  Resources  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States, 
vol.  ii,  p.  172. 

8  Hoyt,  Papers  of  A.  D.  Murphey,  in  Publications  of  North  Carolina 
Historical  Commission,  vol.  ii,  p.  105. 
*  North  American  Review,  January,  1821. 


50        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

down  from  the  mountainous  section,  thus  causing  eddies. 
A  deposit  has  thus  been  formed  which  has  taken  the  nature 
of  a  long  chain  of  islands  just  off  the  coast,  cut  here  and  there 
by  inlets.  These  inlets  change  position  from  time  to  time 
and  even  where  stationary  vary  in  depth.  Only  three  of 
them  admit  ocean-going  vessels;  one  to  the  waters  of  the 
Albemarle,  another  to  those  of  the  Pamlico,  and  a  third  to 
the  Cape  Fear. x  Albemarle  Sound,  into  which  the  Roanoke 
River  empties,  is  cut  off  from  the  ocean  by  a  narrow  sand- 
bar. A  vessel  descending  must  sail  150  miles,  down  and 
back,  over  dangerous  shoals,  passing  through  Ocracoke 
Inlet  in  order  to  reach  a  point  five  miles  distant  from 
where  it  passed  into  Pamlico  Sound.  Nine  tenths  of  the 
shipping  of  the  nineteen  counties  which  had  access  to  these 
waters  went  to  New  York.  This  portion  of  the  state  was 
thus  confronted  with  almost  insuperable  obstacles  to  its 
trade. 

The  price  of  staves  in  those  cities  which  shipped  through 
Ocracoke  was  $25  per  thousand;  the  price  at  Suffolk  only 
thirty  or  forty  miles  away,  but  in  direct  communication 
with  the  ocean,  was  $40  per  thousand.  Salt  which  passed 
through  Ocracoke  cost  ten  cents  more  per  bushel  than  it 
did  at  Wilmington.2  It  was  estimated  that  the  lumber  pro- 
ducer paid  to  this  inlet  one  stave  out  of  every  three  that  he 
sold,  the  maker  of  naval  stores  one  barrel  out  of  every  four 
that  he  made,  the  cotton  grower  one  bale  out  of  every  eight 
that  he  produced. 

Not  only  was  passage  into  the  ocean  difficult,  but  the 
rivers  which  flow  into  the  ocean  offer  impediments.  In  all 
the  rivers  between  the  fall  line  and  the  ocean,  bars  have 
been  formed  in  almost  exactly  the  same  manner  as  the 
string  of  islands  skirting  the  coast.  The  tide  meets  the  cur- 
rent of  the  rivers  and  sedimentary  bars  form.  These  diffi- 

1  Message  of  Governor  Iredell,  November  17,  1828.  Published  in 
Star  and  North  Carolina  Gazette,  November  20,  1828. 

2  Report  on  Ocracoke  Inlet  by  Committee  on  Internal  Improve- 
ments, Star  and  North  Carolina  Gazette,  December  2,  1830. 


NORTH  CAROLINA  BEFORE  1860  51 

culties  together  with  the  scattered  population  caused  a 
long  delay  in  undertaking  internal  improvements. 

In  1815  a  committee  of  investigation  was  appointed  by 
the  legislature  and  reported  the  next  year,  recommending 
that  a  survey  of  the  state  be  made,  that  private  com- 
panies be  incorporated  to  make  needed  improvements  on 
the  rivers,  and  that  the  state  become  an  investor  in  these 
undertakings  to  the  amount  of  one  third  of  their  capital. l 
Two  companies  were  accordingly  incorporated  for  the  im- 
provement of  navigation  on  the  two  principal  rivers,  the 
Roanoke  and  the  Cape  Fear.2  The  end  which  the  commit- 
tee had  in  view  was  twofold;  to  improve  the  inlets  and  the 
rivers  of  the  state  so  that  trading  centers  and  inland  navi- 
gation might  be  secured.  In  addition  to  these  main  objects, 
it  was  urged  that  attention  should  be  given  to  roads  in 
the  upper  mountainous  portions  where  the  rivers  were  too 
shallow  for  navigation. 

Again  in  1819  the  subject  of  internal  improvements 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  public.  In  this  year  there 
appeared  a  memoir  by  A.  D.  Murphey  on  the  improve- 
ments contemplated  by  North  Carolina.  It  was  similar  to 
the  former  report  but  was  not  official.  It  was  broader  in 
scope  and  was  intended  to  arouse  public  interest  in  the 
subject.  The  state  was  represented  as  directing  its  efforts 
to  six  lines  of  improvement;  to  the  inlets,  to  the  sounds 
along  the  coast,  to  the  primary  rivers,  to  the  junction  of 
two  or  more  of  these  rivers  by  navigable  canals,  to  public 
highways,  to  draining  the  marshes  of  the  eastern  and  south- 
ern counties.3  The  friends  of  internal  improvements 
claimed  that  private  enterprise  could  not  execute  such  vast 
works  without  supervision  and  aid  by  the  state.  A  bill  was 
finally  passed  establishing  a  fund  for  improvements  and 

1  Pamphlet  reprinted  in  Publications  of  the  North  Carolina  His- 
torical Commission,  vol.  n,  p.  35  ff. 

2  North  American  Reivew,  January,  1821. 

3  Hoyt,  Papers  of  A.  D.  Murphey,  in  Publications  of  North  Carolina 
Historical  Commission,  vol.  n,  p.  121. 


52         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

a  supervisory  board.  But  the  fund  was  inadequate  and 
within  a  few  years  nearly  all  the  navigation  companies 
which  had  been  assisted  by  it  failed.  The  expenditure  of 
the  state  from  1815  to  1821  for  these  purposes  was  only 
$100,000,  and  up  to  1835,  the  beginning  of  the  railroad 
era,  it  amounted  to  only  $291,576. 

Murphey's  scheme  was  too  far  in  advance  of  the  time. 
It  asked  the  state  to  do  for  itself  what  was  sorely  needed 
but  what  was  beyond  its  ability  to  perform.  Capital  was 
scarce  and  the  stock  in  the  companies  for  the  most  part 
was  subscribed  by  farmers  to  whom  profits  were  a  second- 
ary matter  and  an  outlet  for  their  produce  of  primary  im- 
portance. They  were  unable  to  give  enough  personal  atten- 
tion to  the  companies  to  insure  their  success.  Another 
difficulty  was  the  scarcity  of  labor.  The  negroes  were 
slaves  and  consequently  had  no  interest  in  the  improve- 
ment; the  farmers  and  mechanics  were  otherwise  employed 
and  would  not  work  except  at  wages  which  the  companies 
could  not  pay.1 

The  next  effort  was  that  made  by  President  Caldwell  of 
the  University  of  North  Carolina  in  1828  to  effect  the 
building  of  a  railroad  from  Newberne  to  Beaufort.2  The 
purpose  of  the  road  was  the  same  as  that  of  a  canal  previ- 
ously proposed,  to  connect  the  rivers  in  the  northern  section. 
In  this  way  the  produce  along  all  of  them  could  be  collected 
and  a  market  established  at  Beaufort  within  the  state.  The 
produce  of  the  Roanoke  and  all  the  rivers  between  it  and 
the  Cape  Fear  would  be  developed  and  turned  so  as  to 
leave  the  state  through  one  of  its  own  cities.  The  output 
of  the  Roanoke  country  as  well  as  that  of  the  Neuse  and 
Tar  had  been  sent  to  market  through  Virginia,  and  that 
of  the  Broad,  the  Catawba,  and  the  Pedee,  through  South 
Carolina,  in  all  about  two  thirds  of  what  left  the  state. 

1  C.  C.  Weaver,  Internal  Improvements  in  North  Carolina  to  1860, 
Johns  Hopkins  Historical  Studies,  1903,  pp.  20-22. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  35  ff. 


NORTH  CAROLINA  BEFORE  1860  53 

The  trade  of  the  Roanoke  country  alone  was  estimated 
at  two  and  a  half  millions  yearly.1 

This  north  and  south  connection  was  finally  made  by 
means  of  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  which 
eventually  became  a  part  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line.  The 
two  sections  to  be  joined  were  the  Roanoke  country  and 
the  Cape  Fear  district.  The  Cape  Fear  River  is  the  natural 
and  actual  outlet  for  the  produce  of  twenty-eight  counties 
in  North  Carolina,2  but  the  great  hindrance  to  early  devel- 
opment was  the  existence  of  bars  which  formed  below  Wil- 
mington and  at  the  mouth.  The  state  had  failed  in  its 
efforts  to  procure  a  system  of  internal  improvements,  and 
it  was  not  until  1826  that  the  federal  government  took  up 
the  matter.  In  1829  the  Cape  Fear  was  included  in  the  list 
of  rivers  which  were  to  receive  a  federal  appropriation.3 
For  sixteen  years  it  received  an  annual  appropriation  of 
$20,000.  Progress  was  slow,  but  in  1847  a  depth  of  13  feet 
at  high  water  was  attained.  Later,  in  1854,  although  the 
Democratic  party  was  opposed  to  internal  improvements, 
the  representative  of  the  Cape  Fear  district  persuaded 
enough  Democrats  to  absent  themselves  from  the  House 
to  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill  appropriating  $140,000  to 
the  Cape  Fear  River.  With  the  object  of  forcing  all  the 
water  of  the  river  out  through  one  channel,  the  closing  of 
New  Inlet  was  begun  when  the  war  broke  out  and  the 
work  was  abandoned.4  The  fact  that  it  had  not  been  closed 
was  a  great  advantage  to  the  Confederate  blockade  run- 
ners. 

The  impetus  which  Murphey  gave  to  the  sentiment  for 
developing  the  state  never  entirely  died  in  spite  of  the  fact 

1  North  American  Review,  January,  1821. 

2  James  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  146.  Edition 
referred  to  in  each  case  is  that  of  1916. 

3  Congress  was  asked  for  an  appropriation  to  clear  the  channel  on 
the  ground  that  during  the  Revolution  vessels  were  sunk  in  the  Cape 
Fear  below  Wilmington  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  approach  of 
British  ships  of  war.  Fayetteville  Journal,  February  11,  1829. 

*  James  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  146. 


54         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

that  nothing  of  real  importance  came  of  his  efforts  at  the 
time.  The  idea  of  developing  a  home  market  remained 
uppermost.  Public  opinion  from  the  time  of  the  earliest 
discussion  of  railroad  building  in  North  Carolina  had  been 
divided  into  two  hostile  camps.  The  eastern  section  of  the 
state  had  contended  for  the  building  of  a  road  north  and 
south  while  the  western  portion  favored  an  east  and  west 
line.  In  1828  the  citizens  of  Chatham,  Randolph,  and 
Orange  Counties  issued  an  address  to  the  citizens  of  the 
state  favoring  the  latter.  They  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  cotton  was  the  only  commodity  which  would  bear  the 
cost  of  transportation  from  this  section  of  the  state  to 
market,  and  predicted  that  it  would  not  long  do  so,  since 
its  growth  in  the  Southwest  was  constantly  increasing.1 
E.  B.  Dudley,  later  governor  of  the  state,  represented  the 
opposite  opinion,  thinking  that  a  line  built  east  and  west 
would  virtually  divide  the  state  into  two  parts,  one  part  be- 
ing transferred  to  Virginia  and  the  other  to  South  Carolina. 
An  Internal  Improvements  Convention  was  held  in 
Raleigh  on  July  4,  1833,  at  which  there  were  present  120 
delegates  representing  21  counties  of  the  state.2  Opinion  in 
this  convention  was  still  divided  as  to  whether  the  efforts 
put  forth  should  be  directed  toward  building  north  and 
south  lines  of  communication  to  connect  with  roads  already 
in  process  of  construction,  or  east  and  west  to  market  the 
products  of  the  state  through  North  Carolina  ports.  Reso- 
lutions were  passed  to  the  effect  that  no  work  should  be 
prosecuted  conveying  produce  to  a  primary  market  out  of 
the  state,  that  the  legislature  be  asked  to  take  two  fifths  of 
the  stock  of  companies  to  be  formed,  and  that  a  correspond- 
ing committee  of  twenty  be  appointed  in  each  county.  To 
quote  from  the  records  of  the  convention: 

The  state  cannot  be  asked  to  commit  an  act  so  suicidal  as  to 
lend  resources  to  the  accomplishment  of  any  work  the  tendency  of 

1  Star  and  North  Carolina  Gazette,  August  28,  1828. 

2  James  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  148. 


NORTH  CAROLINA  BEFORE  1860  55 

which  would  be  to  carry  any  portion  of  her  produce  to  a  primary 
market  beyond  her  own  limits  before  she  has  done  all  she  can  to 
create  such  a  market  within  them  and  before  proper  exertions 
have  been  made  to  bring  every  section  within  reach  of  such 
markets.1 

It  had  been  evident  to  most  of  those  interested  that  this 
primary  market  within  the  state  must  be  Wilmington.  In 
the  early  history  of  North  Carolina  this  town  had  enjoyed 
a  considerable  trade  with  the  West  Indies.  Naval  stores, 
lumber,  staves,  rice,  indigo,  and  hides  were  shipped  in 
"plantation  vessels"  of  forty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons 
to  other  coast  towns  and  to  the  West  Indies.  After  1735 
there  was  a  great  increase  in  the  exportation  of  rice,  the 
cultivation  of  which  became  the  chief  agricultural  industry 
of  the  Cape  Fear  region. 

As  population  spread  into  the  back  country,  Wilming- 
ton still  held  its  place  as  the  most  important  trade  center  of 
the  district.  It  secured  much  of  its  trade  from  Fayetteville, 
the  focus  for  the  wagon  trade  of  the  surrounding  country 
as  well  as  for  the  river  pole  boats.  Fayetteville  had  an 
extensive  system  of  plank  roads  into  the  interior  and  thus 
carried  on  trade  with  the  country  lying  west  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  and  even  with  Tennessee  and  southwest  Virginia. 
The  old  canvas-topped  wagon  was  the  vehicle  which 
served  to  bring  produce  to  the  head  of  navigation.  The 
starting  point  of  the  back  trade  was  Wilmington  and  before 
steamers  were  put  on  the  Cape  Fear,  wagoning  was  done 
in  stages  between  Fayetteville  and  Philadelphia.2  The 
highland  country  farmers  for  a  hundred  miles  around  and 
even  sometimes  from  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge  brought  their 
corn,  meal,  flour,  and  cotton  down  to  Fayetteville  in 
heavy  six-horse  wagons,  camping  at  night  by  the  roadside. 

1  Internal  Improvements  Convention,  Raleigh,  July  4,  1833.  In- 
ternal Improvements  Documents  and  Reports,  North  Carolina  State 
Library. 

2  Advertisement  in  South  Carolina  State  Gazette  and  Columbia 
Advertiser,  February  15,  1831. 


56         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

These  wagons  were  unwieldy,  the  roads  bad,  and  twenty 
miles  per  day  was  an  average  rate.1  But  when  their  work 
was  done  in  the  fall  the  farmers  were  at  leisure  until  plant- 
ing time  the  following  spring.  Slowness  of  travel  meant 
little  to  them.  Even  after  railroads  were  built  many  farm- 
ers pursued  their  old  method  of  marketing.  Olmsted  de- 
scribes them  in  1854  as  getting  together  a  load  of  produce 
in  the  fall  and  taking  it  to  market  as  their  fathers  had 
done,  exchanging  it  there  for  "sugar,  molasses,  coffee  and 
a  coffee-mill  or  other  down-coast  notion"  and  returning 
home.2 

Besides  the  wagon  trade  there  was  a  large  pole  boat 
commerce  carried  on  in  small  boats  pushed  up  and  down 
the  streams  which  were  too  shallow  for  larger  ones.  Car- 
goes were  unloaded  at  Fayetteville,  shipped  to  Wilmington 
and  from  there  reshipped  by  means  of  boat  through  the 
mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  or  to  the  north  after  rail- 
road connection  was  made.  Before  the  railroad  era  much 
of  the  produce,  especially  naval  stores,  found  its  way  in 
tar  and  shingle  skippers  to  the  coast  cities  of  New  England.3 
The  tonnage  of  the  port  exceeded  that  of  Richmond  though 
the  city  was  not  more  than  a  quarter  the  size  of  Richmond.4 

The  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad 

As  soon  as  it  was  found  that  railroads  were  practicable,  a 
movement  was  put  on  foot  to  secure  them.  North  Carolina 
was  late,  compared  with  other  states,  in  securing  them. 
In  1830  she  had  only  one  and  a  half  miles  of  line.5  Ten 
years  later  she  had  but  250  miles,  which  had  cost  an  aver- 
age of  $12,806  per  mile.6 

1  Olmsted,  Travels  in  the  Seaboard  Slave  States  (edition  of  1856,  Dix 
&  Edwards,  New  York),  p.  350. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  364.  8  Boston  Covrier,  July  23,  1830. 
4  James  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  157. 

6  Ringwalt,  Development  of  Transportation  Systems  in  the  United 
States,  p.  81. 

6  II.  S.  Tanner,  A  Description  of  the  Canals  and  Railroads  of  the 
United  States,  p.  169. 


THE  WILMINGTON  AND  WELDON  RAILROAD     57 

There  was  a  line  of  steamers  plying  between  Wilmington 
and  Charleston. l  One  of  the  railroads  ran  from  Raleigh  to 
Gaston  on  the  Roanoke,  87  miles,  costing '  upwards  of 
$1,500,000,  the  other  was  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon, 
161  miles  long,  costing  nearly  $2,000,000.  Communication 
from  Wilmington  to  the  north  had  been  by  means  of  pack- 
ets and  two  stage  lines,  one  through  Newberne  and  the 
other  through  Fayetteville  and  Raleigh. 

The  idea  of  building  a  railroad  north  from  Wilmington 
seems  to  have  originated  with  P.  K.  Dickinson  who  had 
seen  a  short  line  in  operation  in  New  England.2  He  re- 
turned to  Wilmington  and  began  agitation  for  a  railroad. 
The  result  was  that  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  was  in- 
corporated on  January  3,  1834. 3  At  this  time  the  intention 
was  to  join  the  principal  seaport  with  the  capital  but  the 
people  of  Raleigh  would  not  subscribe.  As  a  result  it  was 
decided  to  build  the  road  into  the  Roanoke  country.  Ac- 
cordingly in  December,  1835,  the  charter  was  amended  to 
confer  larger  privileges  and  change  the  destination  so  as 
to  connect  with  the  Virginia  lines  at  Weldon.4  Permission 
was  also  granted  to  purchase,  own,  and  possess  steamboats 
to  ply  from  Wilmington  to  Charleston  or  elsewhere.5 

The  building  of  a  railroad  from  Wilmington  to  Weldon, 
at  that  time  the  longest  railroad  in  the  world,  was  a  tre- 
mendous undertaking  for  the  citizens  of  Wilmington.  At  the 
time  the  road  was  incorporated  the  population  of  the  town 
was  about  3000,  the  majority  of  whom  were  negro  slaves. 
When  the  twenty  men  assembled  at  the  home  of  Governor 

1  De  Bow,  Industrial  Resources  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States, 
vol.  ii,  p.  176. 

2  James  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  149. 

3  Acts  of  North  Carolina,  1833-34,  ch.  68. 

4  The  southern  portion  of  the  road  runs  in  an  almost  straight  line 
in  the  direction  of  Raleigh.  After  change  in  plans  it  was  deflected  to- 
ward Weldon.  See  map  at  beginning  of  chapter  in. 

5  Reports  of  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  vol.  I, 
Treasurer's  office,  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  Wilming- 
ton, N.C. 


58         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

Dudley  and  made  their  subscriptions  to  the  road,  the  sum 
subscribed  was  larger  than  the  entire  taxable  property  of 
the  town.  The  largest  subscription,  that  of  Governor 
Dudley,  was  $25,000.  While  the  road  was  being  constructed 
its  credit  became  poor  and  an  order  of  the  promoters  for 
one  hundred  dozen  shovels,  although  indorsed  by  the 
stockholders,  was  refused  and  it  was  necessary  for  one  of 
the  stockholders  to  add  a  hardware  branch  to  his  business 
in  order  that  the  road  might  secure  needed  tools.  While  the 
company  was  in  such  straits  it  was  necessary  to  hold  fre- 
quent meetings  of  the  stockholders  and  directors.  The 
method  of  announcing  these  meetings  was  unique.  A  citi- 
zen of  the  town  owned  a  docile  old  gray  mare.  She  was 
borrowed  periodically  by  the  company  and  decorated  with 
placards  swung  on  either  side  inscribed  "Railroad  meeting 
to-night! "  A  small  negro  boy  ringing  a  bell  rode  her  through 
the  streets  of  Wilmington  and  thus  secured  the  desired 
attendance. 1 

The  main  provisions  of  this  original  charter  were:  the 
road  was  to  run  from  some  point  within  the  town  of  Wil- 
mington or  in  the  neighborhood  of  it,  to  the  city  of  Ra- 
leigh; there  was  to  be  a  meeting  of  subscribers  when 
$300,000  or  more  were  subscribed;  when  300  shares  had 
been  subscribed  the  company  should  be  incorporated  as 
the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company;  two 
dollars  was  to  be  paid  at  time  of  subscription;  no  person 
owning  less  than  twenty  shares  could  become  president. 
In  determining  damages  when  condemning  land,  advan- 
tages had  also  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  the  difference 
to  be  assessed  in  court;  only  a  company  incorporated  in 
North  Carolina  might  be  allowed  to  build  a  road  connect- 
ing with  this  one,  the  method  of  weighing  cars  to  be  pro- 
vided by  the  company  desiring  to  "intersect,"  with  a  fine 
of  $200  for  not  arranging  to  weigh.  Toll-gates  were  to  be 
erected  at  such  points  as  the  company  might  desire,  with 
1  James  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  154. 


THE  WILMINGTON  AND  WELDON  RAILROAD    59 

a  toll  of  four  cents  per  mile  and  a  transportation  charge 
of  nine  cents  per  ton  mile.  Passenger  fares  were  to  be  six 
cents  per  mile  for  each  passenger  until  the  net  profits  re- 
ceived should  amount  to  a  sum  equal  to  the  capital  stock 
expended,  with  6  per  cent  per  annum  interest  thereon, 
from  the  time  the  money  was  advanced  by  the  stockholders. 
After  that  they  were  to  be  so  reduced  as  to  enable  the 
company  to  earn  only  15  per  cent  on  its  investment.1 

The  state  of  North  Carolina  subscribed  two  fifths  of  the 
capital  stock  of  the  company,  construed  as  including  both 
road  and  steamboat  connection  with  Charleston,  a  part  of 
which  was  paid  from  North  Carolina's  share  in  the  surplus 
distributed  by  the  federal  government  in  1835. 2  To  enable 
the  Board  of  Internal  Improvements  to  make  this  sub- 
scription a  transfer  from  the  Literary  Fund  was  agreed  on. 

The  local  jealousies  that  entered  into  all  works  of  inter- 
nal improvement  are  indicated  by  the  statement  of  Gov- 
ernor Dudley,  ex-officio  president  of  the  board,  that  "it  can 
be  a  matter  of  not  the  slightest  importance  to  the  people  of 
North  Carolina  whether  the  citizens  of  other  states  should 
occupy  twelve  hours  or  as  many  days  in  passing  through 
the  state,"  and  that  the  primary  object  was  "to  throw  at 
least  a  very  large  portion  of  the  produce  of  the  state  into 
one  of  its  own  markets."  3 

The  main  line,  extending  from  Wilmington  to  Weldon, 
161  miles,  with  a  branch  from  Rocky  Mount  to  Tarboro, 
19  miles,  was  opened  on  March  9.  1840.  The  first  meeting 
of  the  stockholders  was  held  on  March  14,  1836,  in  the 
courthouse  at  Wilmington,  and  organized  by  electing 
Governor  E.  B.  Dudley  president,  General  Alex  MacRea 

1  Acts  of  North  Carolina,  1833-34,  ch.  68,  p.  122  ff. 

1  Letter  of  Governor  E.  B.  Dudley,  February  4,  1837,  to  Charles 
Fisher  and  Thomas  G.  Polk.  Manuscript  in  Dudley  letters,  North 
Carolina  Historical  Commission,  Raleigh,  N.C. 

3  Report  of  Governor  Dudley,  ex-officio  president  of  the  Board  of 
Internal  Improvements,  to  the  Assembly  of  North  Carolina,  November 
7,  1838. 


60         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

superintendent,  and  James  S.  Green,  secretary  and  treas- 
urer. It  was  agreed  to  start  building  the  road  at  both  Halifax 
and  Wilmington  at  the  same  time,  since  subscriptions  had 
been  made  along  the  contemplated  route  as  well  as  at  Wil- 
mington. Work  was  begun  in  October  of  that  year  but  little 
was  done  until  the  spring  of  1837,  and  not  till  1840  was  it 
finished  and  opened  throughout,  though  a  part  was  in  use 
from  1838.  Its  equipment  consisted  of  twelve  locomotives, 
all  having  names  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  eight 
passenger  cars,  four  mail  cars,  and  fifty  freight  cars.  The 
locomotives  were  built  in  England,  in  Philadelphia,  and  in 
Richmond.1  In  1838  and  1839  a  stage  line  was  operated  in 
connection  with  the  trains  and  boats.  This  stage  line,  al- 
though expensive  to  operate,  secured  for  the  road  the  trans- 
portation of  mail  several  years  earlier  than  could  other- 
wise have  been  arranged  with  the  government  and  gave 
publicity  to  the  road  while  still  under  construction.2  The 
distance  from  Wilmington  to  Charleston  was  covered  by 
steamboats,  four  of  which  formed  part  of  the  material 
equipment  in  1840. 3  Congress  in  that  year  appropriated 
$5000  a  year  for  lighting  the  Cape  Fear  River,  as  naviga- 
tion at  night  was  necessary  for  transporting  the  mail. 
Until  then  this  expense  was  borne  by  the  railroad  com- 
pany.4 

Upon  the  completion  of  the  road  a  great  celebration  was 
held  in  Wilmington.  People  came  from  the  northern  part 
of  the  state,  from  Virginia  and  South  Carolina.  A  great 
barbecue  was  spread  at  the  depot  at  which  550  people 
were  served,  bells  were  rung,  161  guns  were  fired,  one  for 
each  mile  of  fine,  for  this  was  the  first  time  a  train  of  cars 

1  James  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  150. 

2  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company,  May  6, 
1839. 

8  Report  of  Chief  Engineer  Gwynn  to  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Rail- 
road Company,  April  15,  1840. 

4  Articles  by  Senex,  Jr.  (John  MacLaurin)  in  local  newspapers  on 
"Wilmington  in  the  Forties."  Reprinted  in  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the 
Cape  Fear  River,  p.  159  ff. 


THE  WILMINGTON  AND  WELDON  RAILROAD     61 

was  ever  pulled  161  miles  continuously  on  a  railroad. 
Toasts  were  offered,  letters  of  congratulation  read,  and  in 
the  afternoon  the  ceremony  of  mingling  the  waters  of  the 
Roanoke,  Tar,  and  Neuse  with  those  of  the  Cape  Fear  was 
celebrated.1 

The  arrival  of  the  Charleston  mail  and  passenger  boats, 
which  ran  daily  to  connect  with  trains  at  Wilmington,  de- 
termined during  the  first  years  of  the  road  the  time  of 
departure  of  the  north-bound  trains.  Since  this  schedule 
was  necessarily  elastic  and  varied  as  much  as  an  hour 
according  to  the  tides  and  weather,  it  was  customary  for 
Wilmington  citizens  bound  north  to  continue  their  daily 
affairs  until  the  bell  of  the  approaching  steamer  was  heard. 
It  is  said  that  a  chemist  once  delayed  his  departure  until 
the  train  reached  Boney  Bridge,  whereupon  the  conductor 
seeing  his  frantic  signal  reversed  the  train  and  ran  back 
two  blocks  to  take  him  on  board.  Another  indication  that 
train  service  in  those  days  was  more  leisurely  and  personal 
than  now  is  the  fact  that  it  was  the  custom  of  certain  offi- 
cers of  the  road  on  occasions  to  meet  the  south-bound 
passengers  on  their  arrival  at  Wilmington  and  to  present 
to  every  lady  a  bouquet  of  flowers.  Jenny  Lind  is  said  to 
]iave  been  one  of  those  thus  favored  by  the  secretary  and 
treasurer,  Mr.  James  S.  Green.  In  the  case  of  passengers 
who  remained  a  few  days  in  Wilmington,  this  preliminary 
courtesy  was  likely  to  be  followed  by  a  series  of  formal 
calls  by  prominent  citizens  of  the  town.2 

The  equipment  of  this  early  road  also  presented  a  strik- 
ing contrast  to  that  at  present  to  be  found  on  the  Atlantic 
Coast  Line  Railroad.  The  engines  could  not  pull  even  a 
light  train  up  a  slight  incline,  so  no  direct  connection  with 
the  boat  landing  was  attempted.  Baggage  was  shot  down 
an  incline  to  a  hand  car  and  rolled  to  the  steamer.  Large 
trunks,  however,  were  unknown,  and  it  was  "the  day  of 

1  Charleston  Courier,  March  14,  1840. 

2  James  Sprunt.  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  150. 


62         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

bandboxes  and  bundles  to  try  the  patience  of  husbands  or 
other  male  attendants."  Baggage  checking  was  also  un- 
known, and  for  some  time  after  it  was  introduced  was  used 
only  on  special  lines.  Neither  had  systems  of  communica- 
tion been  perfected.  Between  Monday  noon,  July  11,  1842, 
and  Thursday  night,  July  14,  three  heavy  trains  were  lost 
between  Wilmington  and  Weldon.  The  country  between 
the  Roanoke  and  Tar  Rivers  had  been  flooded  and  three 
breaches  caused  in  the  roadbed.  One  train  had  lost  all  com- 
munication with  the  outside  world  by  getting  between  the 
rivers,  and  the  other  two  had  been  thrown  from  the  track 
by  fallen  trees.1 

Relations  between  the  Post  Office  Department  and  all 
the  early  roads  were  anything  but  friendly,  and  the  Wil- 
mington and  Weldon  made  as  bitter  complaints  as  did  its 
Virginia  neighbors.  The  bid  put  in  at  the  expiration  of  the 
first  contract,  June,  1843,  was  rejected  by  the  Postmaster 
General,  but  a  slight  compromise  was  thereafter  effected. 
The  result  was  highly  unsatisfactory  to  the  railroad,  which 
in  October,  1844,  published  a  letter  to  the  public  stating 
its  case.  In  the  letter  it  was  declared  that  the  road  was 
"not  to  blame  for  all  failures  from  Maine  to  New  Orleans," 
that  the  time  allowed  was  a  fair  weather  schedule  wholly 
inadequate  on  stormy  days,  and  that  the  remuneration, 
$220  per  mile,  was  insufficient  and  unfair.  For  the  336  miles 
covered,  161  by  railroad  and  175  by  steamboat,  31  hours 
was  allowed  south  and  30  hours  north.2  In  1846  an  accident 
on  the  road  was  attributed  to  the  great  speed  at  which 
the  engines  had  to  run  to  make  schedule  time.3 

In  1840  the  state  of  North  Carolina  endorsed  the  bonds 
of  the  company  for  $300,000  payable  in  equal  installments 
of  $50,000  from  1842  to  1847,  to  enable  the  company  to  pay 

1  Articles  by  Senex,  Jr.  (John  MacLaurin)  in  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of 
the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  159  ff. 

2  Report  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company,  No- 
vember 14,  1844. 

3  Ibid.,  November  12,  1846. 


THE  WILMINGTON  AND  WELDON  RAILROAD     63 

the  balance  of  debts  incurred  in  construction.  The  first  in- 
stallment was  met,  but  because  of  the  fire  in  Wilmington  in 
April,  1843,  destroying  much  property  of  the  company, 
the  second  could  not  be  paid.  The  state  therefore  invested 
its  Literary  Fund  in  the  bonds  due  in  1843,  those  due  in 
1844  were  paid  by  the  public  treasurer.  In  1844  the  com- 
pany asked  the  legislature  to  authorize  the  endorsement 
of  new  bonds  of  longer  term,  stating  that  since  a  mort- 
gage had  been  given  the  state  on  all  property  of  the  rail- 
road, the  company  was  deprived  of  credit  and  ability  to 
negotiate  loans,  on  its  own  account.1  Similar  pleas  were 
made  in  following  years,  and  in  January,  1849,  an  exten- 
sion of  ten  years  was  granted.2  To  quote  President  McRae: 

As  well  might  the  farmer  who  had  built  but  half  of  his  fence 
expect  to  protect  his  crop  and  gather  it  at  harvest  time  as  for  the 
state  to  stop  short  with  works  in  which  she  conjointly  with  her 
citizens  has  embarked,  before  they  are  completed  and  expect  to 
reap  the  profits.  The  policy  is  to  go  on  until  one  or  more  enter- 
prises undertaken  within  her  limits  is  finished.3 

In  the  same  report  President  McRae  comments  on  the 
adoption  of  the  flat  rail  as  the  unfortunate  mistake  of  the 
southern  roads  and  the  chief  cause  why  they  had  been 
unprofitable  to  the  stockholders.  In  1848  the  legislature 
passed  a  bill  authorizing  the  mortgage  of  the  road  for 
$600,000  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  iron.4  The  agita- 
tion for  the  iron  rail  once  begun  was  continued  until  the 
entire  line  of  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  was  relaid  in  the 
fifties.  After  the  road  had  been  in  operation  for  seven 
years,  it  subscribed  $100,000  to  be  paid  in  cash  to  the  Wil- 
mington and  Manchester  upon  the  completion  of  that  line. 

The  companies  composing  the  inland  route  had  con- 
stantly to  meet  competition  from  the  sea  route  which  could 

1  Memorial  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company,  to 
the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina,  December  10,  1844. 

2  James  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  152. 

3  Report  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company,  No- 
vember 12,  1847. 

k    *  James  Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  p.  152. 


64         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

afford  to  set  a  much  lower  price  than  that  of  the  railroads. 
To  add  to  the  attractiveness  of  inland  travel,  through  ticket 
arrangements  were  made  so  that  by  1849  tickets  could  be 
purchased  in  New  York  for  Charleston  and  in  Charleston 
for  New  York. x  Passenger  fares  were  regulated  by  the  com- 
panies upon  the  per  mile  rate,  the  proceeds  of  the  through 
ticket  being  divided  in  proportion  to  distance.  In  1851  a 
contract  was  made  with  the  Washington  and  New  Orleans 
Telegraphic  Company  to  put  up  posts  for  a  line  of  tele- 
graphic wires  from  the  junction  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad 
to  Wilmington.  By  contract  the  telegraph  company  was 
entitled  to  free  use  of  the  railroad.2 

A  comparison  of  the  year  1853  with  1841,  the  first  year 
after  the  completion  of  the  road,  showed  an  increase  in 
earnings  from  local  travel  from  $8075  to  $138,148  and  in 
freight  from  $29,726  to  $112,582.3  For  fifteen  years  after 
its  opening  in  1840  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  was  the 
only  conveyance  along  the  seaboard  by  railroad  for  pas- 
senger travel  and  United  States  mail.  In  1858  the  company 
paid  semi-annual  dividends  of  7  per  cent  and  had  a  large 
surplus.  The  cost  of  the  road  and  equipment  was  estimated 
at  $2,776,404  in  that  year.  When  the  North  Carolina  Rail- 
road was  completed  it  was  arranged  that  the  products  of 
the  West  should  go  to  Wilmington  through  Goldsboro. 
All  breaks  at  terminals  were  as  far  as  possible  removed  and 
a  joint  arrangement  with  the  Florida  Railroad  was  effected 
to  secure  a  large  amount  of  the  southern  travel.  This  be- 
came then  and  has  remained  one  of  the  chief  sources  of 
revenue  to  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line. 

By  1853  the  preliminary  period  may  be  said  to  have 
come  to  a  close  and  the  act  of  that  year,4  amending  the 
charter,  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era.  According  to 

1  Report  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company,  No- 
vember 8,  1849. 

2  Ibid.,  November  13,  1851. 

3  Ibid.,  November  10,  1853. 

4  Acts  of  North  Carolina,  1354-55,  ch.  235,  p.  302. 


THE  WILMINGTON  AND  WELDON  RAILROAD     65 

the  terms  of  the  act,  the  voting  power  of  the  state  on  the 
board  of  directors  was  reduced  by  one  third,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  state  had  disposed  of  one  third  of  its 
shares.1 

Then,  too,  the  name  of  the  road  was  a  misnomer.  It  was 
chartered  as  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh,  but  was  built 
to  Weldon  instead  of  to  Raleigh.  The  name  was  there- 
fore changed  to  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon. 

Besides  the  line  between  Wilmington  and  Weldon,  there 
had  been  constructed  prior  to  the  Civil  War  a  nineteen- 
mile  branch  to  Tarboro.  This  branch  was  begun  in  1850 
and  put  into  operation  in  August,  1860. 

During  the  existence  of  the  road  as  the  Wilmington  and 
Raleigh,  securities  were  sold  in  England.  These  were  begin- 
ning now  to  fall  due  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  payment 
was  met. 

The  ticket  arrangement  with  the  lines  to  the  north  was 
a  constant  source  of  worry  to  the  officials.  It  was  becoming 
more  and  more  difficult  to  procure  slaves  or  free  blacks  for 
freight  hands,  and  resort  was  had  for  a  time  to  white  men, 
but  these  left  when  they  found  their  work  harder  than  they 
anticipated  or  when  their  immediate  wants  were  satisfied. 
To  improve  the  labor  situation,  the  chief  engineer  in  1860 
urged  the  purchase  of  at  least  twenty  able-bodied  young 
negroes  for  use  at  trains  and  at  warehouses. 

Growing  competition  was  another  problem  of  the  com- 
pany. The  Virginia  and  Tennessee  Railroad  had  been  con- 
structed and  was  becoming  a  competitor  at  a  time  when 
the  naval  stores  business,  which  had  been  one  of  the  main 
supports  of  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon,  was  falling  off.  The 
outside  steamers  continued  to  secure  much  traffic  at  Wil- 
mington which  otherwise  would  have  gone  over  this  road.2 

1  The  proceeds  of  the  sale  were  invested  in  the  Wilmington  and 
Manchester. 

2  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  November 
11,  1858. 


66         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

When  the  war  came  "all  minor  matters  were  dropped  from 
consideration  and  the  company  began  to  serve  the  Con- 
federate Government,  in  the  transportation  of  troops  and 
munitions  of  war." 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  SOUTH  CAROLINA-GEORGIA  TERRITORY  AND 
ITS  RAILROADS  BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

The  railroads  of  the  South  Carolina-Georgia  territory 
which  became  a  part  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  System 
were  built  mostly  in  the  older  sections  of  the  states.  The 
farthest  point  west  reached  by  any  of  those  in  South  Caro- 
lina was  Kingsville  on  the  Charleston  and  Hamburg,  little 
more  than  halfway  between  the  coast  and  Augusta. 

In  Georgia  there  were  two  roads,  one  running  from  Sa- 
vannah and  the  other  from  Brunswick.  These  intersected 
at  what  is  now  Waycross.  The  one  from  Savannah  was 
extended  and  under  another  name  was  constructed  into 
the  Southwest  as  far  as  Thomasville. 

The  purpose  of  the  builders  of  these  Georgia  lines  was  to 
connect  by  rail  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
The  construction  of  such  a  railroad  would  supplant  the  old 
dirt  road  cut  through  the  wilderness  to  obviate  sailing 
around  Florida  in  order  to  reach  the  Gulf  cities  of  Mobile 
and  New  Orleans. 

At  the  time  these  lines  were  built  transportation  condi- 
tions in  the  two  states  were  very  similar.  Poor  roads  pre- 
vailed here  as  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  The  old 
stage  routes  formed  the  main  lines  of  communication.  One 
of  these  running  between  Charleston  and  Savannah 
formed  a  part  of  what  was  known  as  the  "New  Southern 
Line"  from  New  York  to  New  Orleans.1  This  old  route 
remained  in  existence  well  into  the  railroad  era.  Passengers 
reached  Charleston  from  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
other  northern  cities  by  means  of  boat,  railroad,  and  stage 
coach.  From  Charleston  they  went  by  boat  to  Brunswick; 
1  Charleston  Courier,  December  21,  1839. 


68         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

from  Brunswick  to  Tallahassee  by  post  coach;  then  through 
Apalachicola,  Pensacola,  and  Mobile  to  New  Orleans.1 

Roads  were  at  times  impassable.  Harriet  Martineau,  in 
traveling  through  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  on  a  trip  of 
several  days'  duration,  saw  but  one  other  vehicle  and  that 
was  a  stage  returning  from  Charleston.2  In  the  winter  of 
1828  the  road  from  Columbia  to  Charleston  became  so  bad 
that  it  was  impossible  for  the  stages  to  get  through  and  the 
mail  was  carried  on  horseback.  All  sorts  of  obstructions 
existed  and  it  was  sometimes  necessary  to  take  the  wheels 
off  the  stage  coaches  and  lift  the  different  parts  one  at  a 
time  over  a  fallen  tree.3  The  character  of  some  of  the  drivers 
was  not  above  reproach.  Drunkenness  among  them  was 
common.  Under  such  circumstances  only  those  traveled 
who  were  impelled  by  curiosity  or  forced  by  necessity  to  do 
so;  only  such  surplus  products  reached  an  outlet  as  could 
bear  the  cost  of  transportation  from  the  interior  to  a  navi- 
gable river  or  those  which  were  produced  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  such  a  river.  In  the  hill  country  corn  was  grown, 
converted  into  whiskey,  and  thus  marketed. 

Besides  the  old  cities  where  settlements  along  the  coast 
had  first  been  made,  there  had  sprung  up  along  the  fall  line 
a  number  of  what  may  be  called  secondary  settlements 
which  had  become  the  chief  inland  markets.  Important 
among  these  was  Augusta,  up  the  Savannah  River  from 
Savannah.  It  became  the  greatest  inland  cotton  market. 
Merchants  here  bought  cotton  from  farmers  as  far  west  as 
Athens.  Boats  plied  the  Savannah,  carried  down  cotton, 
and  brought  back  supplies  to  be  distributed  to  the 
interior. 

The  two  important  markets  in  South  Carolina  were 
Columbia  on  the  Congaree  and  Camden  on  the  Wateree. 
Country  products  were  sent  down  the  two  rivers  to  their 

l.  Running  advertisement  in  Charleston  Courier,  1840. 
1  Harriet  Martineau,  Society  in  America,  vol.  n,  p.  172. 
8  Mrs.  Royall,  Southern  Tour,  vol.  n,  p.  99. 


DECLINE  OF  EXPORTS  69 

junction  and  thence  down  the  Santee  and  through  the 
Santee  Canal  to  Charleston.  These  inland  markets,  while 
important,  never  reached  the  point  attained  by  Augusta. 
The  main  difficulty  was  obstruction  to  navigation. 

While  the  population  of  South  Carolina  was  centered 
along  the  valleys  of  the  eastern  rivers,  rice  was  the  chief 
product,  but  when  the  upland  and  hill  country  to  the  west 
was  settled,  cotton  became  the  leading  product.  Tobacco 
and  indigo  had  each  in  turn  been  the  staple  of  the  state  in 
early  times,  but  had  given  place  to  cotton.1  During  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  corn,  wheat,  barley, 
tobacco,  hemp,  flax,  and  indigo  were  exported,  but  by  1825 
the  cotton  and  rice  growers  did  not  raise  enough  grain  and 
forage  to  support  their  stock.  Neither  did  the  eastern  sec- 
tions raise  enough  stock  to  do  the  work  on  the  planta- 
tions, but  secured  the  supply  from  the  western  hill  coun- 
try and  mountains,  from  which  the  animals  were  driven 
to  market. 

Compared  with  agriculture,  manufactures  played  a  very 
unimportant  part  in  the  economic  development  of  the 
state.  A  few  mines  and  forges  had  been  in  operation  at  an 
early  date.  During  the  Revolution  premiums  were  offered 
for  the  production  of  iron.  In  1840  there  were  four  furnaces 
and  nine  bloomeries  turning  out  about  2500  tons  annually. 
This  production  remained  about  constant  for  twenty  years 
and  then  declined.2 

South  Carolina  was  a  great  exporting  state  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century,  with  a  population  in 
1820  of  500,000.3  Of  the  $82,000,000  of  commodities  which 
were  exported  from  the  United  States  in  1816,  the  share 
of  South  Carolina  was  $11,000,000.  New  York  State  alone 
ranked  higher. 

With  the  application  of  steam  to  the  steamship  and  its 

1  Mills,  Statistics  of  South  Carolina,  p.  153. 

2  Swank,  History  of  Iron  in  All  Ages,  p.  276. 

3  Mills,  Statistics  of  South  Carolina^  p.  177. 


70        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

improvement,  ocean  trade  currents  were  shifted.  The 
steam  vessels  coming  from  Europe  or  going  to  Europe 
now  went  in  a  direct  line  regardless  of  ocean  currents  and 
winds,  whereas  the  old  sailing  vessels  were  dependent  upon 
them.  The  route  from  Europe  to  America  had  formerly 
been  down  the  coast  of  Africa  into  the  trade  winds,  and 
across  the  Atlantic,  thence  with  the  Gulf  Stream  to  the 
American  coast.  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  the  other 
South  Atlantic  cities  were  the  natural  termini  of  these 
sailing  routes. 

These  old  coast  cities  might  have  been  able  to  hold  their 
own  if  they  had  been  in  a  position  to  enter  into  the  contest 
on  an  equal  footing  with  those  farther  to  the  north.  But 
at  the  very  period  when  ocean  transportation  was  being 
revolutionized,  the  manufacturing,  commercial,  and  carry- 
ing interests  of  the  section  were  waning.  Moreover,  cotton 
was  fast  becoming  king  and  an  ever-increasing  amount  of 
attention  was  being  given  to  agriculture. 

As  early  as  1824  most  of  the  produce  leaving  southern 
ports  was  being  carried  in  vessels  belonging  to  northern 
capitalists.  As  cotton  became  the  center  of  interest,  manu- 
facturing and  industrial  pursuits  declined,  shipbuilding 
along  with  the  rest.  This  decline  in  shipbuilding  continued 
until  the  Civil  War.  In  1840  the  South  built  138  of  the 
1022  vessels  constructed  in  the  United  States.  In  1860  this 
section  built  236  vessels  with  a  total  tonnage  of  39,478, 
or  an  average  of  a  little  more  than  166  tons  per  vessel. 
During  the  same  year  the  North  built  835  vessels  with  a 
tonnage  of  173,414,  or  an  average  of  over  180  tons  per 
vessel.  Southern-built  vessels  were  for  use  on  rivers  and 
in  the  coastwise  trade  rather  than  for  transatlantic  serv- 
ice as  were  those  constructed  in  the  North.  The  ship- 
yards along  the  Carolina-Georgia  coast  were  becoming  of 
less  importance;  those  north  of  the  Virginia  Capes,  more.1 

From  the  foundation  of  the  government  to  1860, 
1  Edward  Ingle,  Southern  Sidelights,  p.  70. 


DECLINE  OF  EXPORTS  71 

$12,994,998  were  given  as  bounties  on  vessels.  Of  this 
amount  Massachusetts  received  $7,926,273,  Maine 
$4,175,050,  the  South  practically  nothing.1  This  is  not, 
however,  the  only  explanation  of  the  decline  of  shipbuilding 
in  the  South.  Agriculture  under  the  system  of  slavery  was 
more  profitable  to  this  section  than  shipbuilding  even 
with  a  bounty.  The  decline  in  shipbuilding  was  only  one 
manifestation  of  the  stagnation  which  was  settling  on  the 
South.  Along  with  the  decline  of  shipbuilding  came  also 
a  decline  in  shipping.  The  produce  shipped  from  Charles- 
ton in  1820  amounted  to  $8,690,000.  By  1847  this  had 
fallen  to  $7, 783,000. 2 

It  was  estimated  that  from  1830  to  1850,  $500,000  a  year 
left  Charleston  and  went  out  of  the  state  to  purchase 
articles  which  could  have  been  manufactured  at  home. 
From  1830  to  1840,  83,000  slaves  were  carried  out  of  South 
Carolina  to  the  Southwest  by  their  masters  yearly,  from 
land  that  produced  1200  pounds  of  cotton  per  hand  to  land 
that  produced  1800  pounds.  This  draining  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  eastern  Georgia  of  their  population  and  resources, 
chiefly  to  the  Southwest,  checked  the  development  of  these 
states.  In  1820  they  produced  one  half  of  the  cotton  grown 
in  the  United  States;  by  1850  this  had  fallen  to  one  fifth.3 

In  both  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  the  early  wealth 
and  culture  were  centered  along  the  coast.4  When  the  South- 
west opened  up  and  the  growth  of  cotton  began  to  occupy 
the  chief  place,  much  of  the  wealth  and  many  of  the 
farmers  moved  into  this  new  country.  The  tide  water  sec- 
tion farther  north  had  almost  given  up  tobacco  after  the 
War  of  1812,  and  slaves  were  numerous.  Many  owners 
removed  to   Georgia  with   their  whole  households  in  the 

1  Edward  Ingle,  Southern  Sidelights,  p.  70. 

2  De  Bow,  Industrial  Resources  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States, 
vol.  in,  p.  139. 

3  Governor  Hammond  in  De  Bow,  Industrial  Resources  of  the  South- 
ern and  Western  States,  vol.  in,  p.  25. 

*  Smith,  Story  of  Georgia  and  Georgia  People,  p.  241. 


72        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

expectation  of  making  fortunes  by  growing  cotton.  Some 
settlers  came  from  as  far  north  as  Maryland.  Many  of 
them,  when  they  had  lived  for  a  few  years  in  the  country, 
became  dissatisfied,  and  moved  on  farther  west,  and  took 
up  new  land  in  a  new  country.1 

There  was  another  class  of  settlers  who  came  into 
Georgia  in  large  numbers.  There  were  the  poor  farmers  who 
could  not  compete  with  the  big  slave-owners  from  the 
older  states.  They  had  exhausted  their  land  by  a  wasteful 
system  of  agriculture  and  had  had  to  seek  their  fortunes  in 
a  new  country.  The  small  farmers  settled  for  the  most  part 
in  the  poor,  sandy,  pine  hill  section  and  raised  cattle  which 
could  be  driven  or  cut  timber  which  could  be  floated  to 
market.2  The  earliest  settlers  of  this  portion  of  the  state 
raised  some  tobacco  and  attempted  to  establish  manu- 
factures,3 but  cotton  raising  soon  became  the  chief  indus- 
try. Harriet  Martineau  estimated  in  1831  that  the  shoe 
manufacturing  business  alone  in  New  York  State  amounted 
to  more  than  the  entire  commerce  of  Georgia  in  that  year.4 
Manufactures  could  not  develop  where  cotton  culture 
monopolized  practically  all  effort  and  capital.  The  fifteen 
years  from  1820  to  1835  was  a  period  of  bustle  and  hurry. 
Everybody  was  growing  cotton  and  fortunes  were  being 

1  A  migrant  from  Maryland  met  his  brother  in  Columbia,  South 
Carolina,  after  a  separation  of  several  years.  "When  they  had  exchanged 
greetings,  the  South  Carolinian  was  astonished  to  find  that  his  brother 
was  on  his  way  to  Florida,  having  sold  all  his  property  in  Maryland. 
Upon  inquiring  what  he  would  do  if  he  did  not  find  Florida  to  his  liking, 
he  received  the  reply:  "Why,  move  along  westward,  to  be  sure,  and  if 
I  don't  find  anything  to  suit  me  by  the  way  in  the  state  of  Georgia  or 
Alabama,  I  can  easily  put  my  whole  establishment,  wife,  children, 
furniture,  slaves,  and  other  articles  on  board  a  steamboat  and  proceed 
up  the  Mississippi."  His  wife  added:  "We  have  been  doing  so  all  our 
lives.  You  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  be  married  to  a  gadding  husband." 
(From  Hall,  Travels  in  America,  vol.  in,  p.  128  (ed.  1829). 

*  Smith,  Story  of  Georgia  and  Georgia  People,  p.  299. 

3  The  first  factory  in  Georgia  was  established  in  1810  and  was  located 
twelve  miles  out  of  Washington,  Georgia.  Smith,  Story  of  Georgia  and 
Georgia  People,  p.  237. 

4  Harriet  Martineau,  Society  in  America,  vol.  n,  p.  229. 


DECLINE  IN  POPULATION  73 

accumulated  rapidly.  The  planters  spent  their  own  money 
and  borrowed  all  they  could  get.  Cotton  growing  was  the 
chief  activity.  A  man  with  an  income  of  $5000  a  year  lived 
in  a  cabin  and  fed  his  family  on  bacon  and  corn  bread.  But 
because  of  difficulties  of  transportation  the  system  of 
growing  cotton  and  buying  supplies  had  not  arisen.  Most 
of  the  western  plantations  were  self-sufficient.1 

While  the  Southwest  was  being  developed  rapidly,  the 
eastern  sections  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  were  not 
prospering.  The  fertility  of  the  land  in  the  older  sections  was 
being  exhausted  and  population  was  moving  west.  The 
population  of  Charleston  in  1810  was  24,700  and  in  1840 
had  increased  by  only  5000. 2  The  chief  exports  continued 
to  be  rice  and  cotton.3  There  was  little  manufacturing  of  any 
kind  and  most  of  the  business  men  were  engaged  in  trade 
which  they  secured  by  a  number  of  steamboat  lines  to  the 
inland  towns.4  The  position  of  Savannah  was  not  materially 
different  from  that  of  Charleston  or  Wilmington.  Its  trade 
had  been  in  the  same  commodities.  Its  population  had 
grown  but  slowly.  In  1810  there  were  something  over  5000 
people  living  there;  by  1840  the  population  had  slightly 
more  than  doubled.5  The  town  had  depended  largely  on 
the  cotton  and  rice  export  trade  for  its  business  prosperity. 
The  first  cotton  had  been  shipped  from  Savannah  between 
1770  and  1780.  Its  cotton  export  had  grown,  reached  a 
maximum  in  1844,  and  then  declined.  Its  rice  export  began 
to  decline  after  1846.6  Not  only  was  its  export  trade  de- 
clining, but  it  was  also  becoming  more  and  more  depend- 
ent for  its  supplies  on  the  North.  In  1848  there  were 
shipped  to  Savannah  600,000  pounds  of  tobacco,  valued  at 

1  Smith,  Story  of  Georgia  and  Georgia  People,  p.  352. 

2  Bancroft,  Savannah,  Census  and  Statistics,  p.  2. 

3  Hall,  Travels  in  America,  p.  189;  Mills,  Statistics  of  South  Carolina, 
p.  389. 

4  Mills,  Statistics  of  South  Carolina,  p.  428. 

5  Bancroft,  Savannah,  Census  and  Statistics,  p.  2;  White,  History  of 
Georgia,  p.  158. 

6  See  Appendix,  Table  V. 


74         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

$150,000,  most  of  which  came  from  New  York;  5000  bar- 
rels of  potatoes  from  New  York;  and  4000  barrels  of  apples 
from  New  England.  The  potatoes  and  apples  were  valued 
at  $10,000. 

The  condition  of  shipping  may  be  seen  from  the  clear- 
ances for  the  year  1847-48 :  American  vessels  arrived  from 
foreign  ports,  40,  with  a  tonnage  of  6925 ;  American  vessels 
arrived  coastwise,  397,  with  a  tonnage  of  99,409;  foreign 
vessels  arrived  from  foreign  ports,  51,  with  a  tonnage  of 
28,766;  American  vessels  cleared  to  foreign  ports,  61,  with 
a  tonnage  of  14,340;  American  vessels  cleared  coastwise, 
39,  with  a  tonnage  of  28,012;  foreign  vessels  cleared  to 
foreign  ports,  55y  with  a  tonnage  of  30,570. l 

With  the  general  decline  of  the  eastern  section,  chief 
interest  centered  in  the  western  portion  of  the  region.  The 
aim  of  the  eastern  seaboard  cities  was  to  reach  out  and  se- 
cure, if  possible,  a  foothold  in  the  newer  Southwest.  By  so 
doing  they  would  secure  the  produce  of  that  section,  chiefly 
cotton  and  naval  stores,  for  their  own  market  at  the 
expense  of  Mobile  and  New  Orleans.  Most  of  the  early 
railroads  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  built  with 
this  object  in  view. 

Those  railroads  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  which 
were  afterward  incorporated  in  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
System,  had  much  less  influence  on  the  economic  develop- 
ment of  that  section  than  did  the  roads  of  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina  on  the  territory  farther  to  the  north.  There 
are  two  reasons  why  this  was  so;  first,  they  were  built 
later,  after  other  roads  had  been  established,  and  were, 
therefore,  subject  to  more  intense  competition  than  had 
been  the  case  with  those  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina; 
second,  many  of  them  were  built  to  serve  the  interest  of  a 
particular  section.  To  illustrate:  the  Cheraw  and  Darling- 
ton was  built  largely  by  the  people  of  the  upper  Peedee  as 
an  all-year  outlet  for  their  naval  stores.  The  Northeastern 
1  Bancroft,  Savannah,  Census  and  Statistics,  p.  38. 


THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  GROUP  75 

of  South  Carolina  was  built  to  revive  the  failing  fortunes 
of  Charleston.  Its  purpose  was  to  bring  to  Charleston  trade 
which  had  been  diverted  by  the  Wilmington  and  Man- 
chester. The  Brunswick  and  Albany  and  the  Savannah, 
Albany,  and  Gulf  were  constructed  as  rival  lines  into  the 
growing  southwest  Georgia  territory.  The  Savannah  and 
Charleston,  variously  named  after  reorganizations,  was 
built  largely  in  the  interest  of  Charleston.  Its  main  object 
was  to  attract  cotton  to  Charleston  whence  it  might  be 
shipped.  Little  success  attended  any  of  the  roads  built  at 
this  time  in  the  Georgia-South  Carolina  territory. 

For  purposes  of  discussion  the  roads  of  this  section  may 
be  divided  into  two  groups,  as  follows :  first,  those  forming 
eventually  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina; 
and  second,  those  forming,  after  the  Civil  War,  the  Sa- 
vannah, Florida,  and  Western. 


The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina  Group 

In  this  group  of  roads  were  the  Wilmington,  Columbia, 
and  Augusta;  the  Northeastern  of  South  Carolina;  and  the 
Cheraw  and  Darlington.  During  the  period  under  consid- 
eration they  were  all  independent  roads.  It  was  not  until 
long  after  the  Civil  War  that  they,  with  others  built  after 
the  war,  were  consolidated  into  a  small  system  known  as 
the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina,  and  as  such 
incorporated  into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  proper. 

The  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and  Augusta  Railroad 

The  first  of  these  roads,  the  Wilmington,  Columbia, 
and  Augusta,  from  the  time  it  was  chartered  in  1846  to  its 
entrance  into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina 
at  a  much  later  period,  had  a  checkered  career.  It  under- 
went three  sales  of  foreclosure  and  two  reorganizations, 
leased  another  railroad  and  failing  to  pay  the  rental,  was 


76         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

in  its  turn  leased  by  it.  The  road  was  originally  chartered 
in  1846  as  the  Wilmington  and  Manchester,1  and  was 
opened  in  1854  from  Eagle  Island  opposite  Wilmington 
to  Kingsville,  South  Carolina,  a  distance  of  172  miles. 
Largely  because  it  was  unable  to  secure  favorable  traffic 
arrangements  with  the  Charleston  and  Hamburg,  it  was 
not  successful,  and  was  sold  for  the  first  time  under  fore- 
closure in  1857.  Though  this  road  was  financially  unsuc- 
cessful, its  economic  effects  were  felt.  Before  its  construc- 
tion a  large  part  of  the  freight  and  passenger  traffic  from 
the  north  of  Wilmington  reached  the  Southwest  through 
Charleston.  When  the  Wilmington  and  Manchester  was 
built,  this  traffic  began  to  pass  over  its  lines  and  reach 
Columbia  or  Camden,  and  from  these  inland  markets  to 
be  distributed  to  the  interior  by  the  wagon  routes  or  over 
the  Charleston  and  Hamburg  Railroad  by  way  of  Branch- 
ville. 

The  Northeastern  Railroad  of  South  Carolina 

In  order  to  regain  this  lost  business,  the  people  of 
Charleston  projected  a  road  to  run  north  to  intersect  the 
Wilmington  and  Manchester  at  Florence.  Such  a  road 
would  receive  the  traffic  brought  through  Wilmington  and 
carry  it  south  to  Charleston.  This  arrangement  would  re- 
establish conditions  as  they  had  been  before  the  Wilming- 
ton and  Manchester  was  built,  the  only  difference  being 
that  commodities  and  passengers  would  now  move  from 
Wilmington  to  Charleston  by  rail,  whereas  formerly  they 
had  moved  by  boat.2 

The  road  projected  was  the  Northeastern  of  South  Caro- 
lina. It  was  chartered  in  December,  1851,  with  an  author- 
ized capital  stock  of  $2,000,000  and  power  to  build  a  rail- 
road from  Charleston  to  Florence,  a  distance  of  102  miles.3 

1  Acts  of  North  Carolina,  1846-47,  ch.  82,  p.  175. 

2  See  map  at  beginning  of  chapter  v. 

a  Vernon  s  Railroad  Manual,  1874,  p.  350. 


THE  CHERAW  AND  DARLINGTON      77 

The  road  ran  through  a  sparsely  settled  country  and  its 
financial  success  was  doubtful  from  the  first.  It  was 
financed  largely  by  the  city  of  Charleston  and  the  banks 
of  that  city.  The  cost  of  construction  was  $21,000  per 
mile.  The  road  was  opened  for  traffic  on  August  5, 
1857. J 

With  the  exception  of  the  traffic  which  it  received  from 
the  Wilmington  and  Manchester,  it  was  wholly  dependent 
on  local  traffic  originating  in  a  thinly  settled  agricultural 
region.  It  had  competition  even  in  this  field  in  its  early 
history,  for  it  crossed  the  Santee  Canal,  which  connected 
the  Santee  River  and  Charleston,  thus  giving  water  trans- 
portation to  a  large  part  of  the  territory  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  compelled  to  ship  over  the  lines  of  the 
railroad. 

The  Cheraw  and  Darlington  Railroad 

The  construction  of  the  Northeastern  to  Florence  on 
the  Wilmington  and  Manchester  did  not  give  the  people 
of  Charleston  the  expected  relief.  They  were  interested, 
therefore,  in  an  extension  of  the  line  from  Florence,  be- 
yond the  Wilmington  and  Manchester,  into  a  section  not 
yet  fully  developed.  The  proposed  extension  was  the 
Cheraw  and  Darlington  Railroad. 

Cheraw  is  a  town  located  on  the  Great  Peedee  River. 
The  river  is  open  to  navigation  only  half  the  year,  and 
it  was  but  natural  that  the  town,  which  dominated  the 
trade  of  the  whole  surrounding  country  and  even  that  of  a 
part  of  North  Carolina,  should  want  a  better  outlet  than 
the  Peedee.  Consequently  an  attempt  was  made  as  early  as 
1837  to  secure  sufficient  capital  to  build  a  road  due  east 
to  Conwayboro,  situated  on  the  Waccamaw  River.  This 
was  the  head  of  navigation,  and  such  a  road,  together  with 
the  boats  plying  the  river,  would  have  given  an  all-the- 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  v,  p.  265. 


78         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

year-round  outlet.1  A  convention  was  called  at  Marion 
Court-House  in  January,  1837,  which  provided  for  a  survey 
for  the  road.  The  distance  was  eighty-five  miles,  and  the 
report  of  the  engineers  stated  that  the  country  to  be  tra- 
versed was  level  and  the  soil  easy  to  handle;  that  the 
rights  of  way  could  be  had  without  cost;  and  that 
labor  would  cost  about  seventy-five  cents  a  day  plus 
board.  The  report  further  says  that  the  road  would  cost 
about  $607,232;  that  the  probable  earnings  would  be 
$133,000  and  the  expense  $90,000. 2  All  the  plans,  however, 
came  to  nothing,  for  the  panic  of  1837  prostrated  business 
and  put  an  end  to  improvements. 

After  a  decade  a  second  period  of  building  started  in 
this  section,  and  the  people  of  Charleston  subscribed 
$100,000  on  the  condition  that  the  road  should  be  built  to 
connect  with  the  Northeastern  at  Florence.  The  North- 
eastern even  subscribed  $25,000  to  be  paid  in  transporta- 
tion. The  Cheraw  and  Darlington  Railroad  Company  was 
therefore  organized  and  enough  capital  secured  to  begin 
the  building  of  the  forty  miles  between  Cheraw  and  Flor- 
ence.3 Construction  was  begun  in  1854  and  completed  in 
1855.4  The  road  cost  for  grading  $77,000;  for  bridges,  etc., 
$22,000;  for  superstructure  $288,200,  making  a  total  of 
$387,200.5  The  rolling  stock  was  rented  from  other  roads. 
The  road  had  hardly  begun  operation  when  it  was  badly 
damaged  by  a  freshet  in  1856.  This  necessitated  borrowing 
for  reconstruction  work,  and  at  the  end  of  1857  the  floating 
debt  was  $85,000.  By  this  time,  too,  the  surrounding  towns 
had  secured  railroads  and  the  Cheraw  and  Darlington  had 

1  U.  B.  Phillips,  History  of  Transportation  in  the  Eastern  Cotton  Belt 
to  1860,  p.  349. 

2  Report  on  the  proposed  Cheraw  and  Waccamaw  Railroad,  by 
E.  W.  White,  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  1837. 

3  Poors  Manual,  1898,  p.  286. 

4  Reports  of  the  Cheraw  and  Darlington  to  the  legislature  of  South 
Carolina,  1855,  1856,  1857. 

5  Report  of  the  Northeastern  Railroad  Company  of  South  Carolina, 
1854. 


THE  BRUNSWICK  AND  ALBANY  RAILROAD     79 

difficulty  earning  enough  to  meet  its  expenses.  It  contin- 
ued, however,  as  an  independent  company  until  it  went 
into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina.1 


II 

The  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  Group 

Besides  the  roads  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South 
Carolina  group,  a  second  group  of  roads  in  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia  were  constructed  in  the  decade  before 
the  Civil  War.  These  were  later  consolidated  into  the 
Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western,  or  what  was  popularly 
known  as  the  "Plant  System."  Of  the  large  number  of 
roads  which  went  into  this  system,  before  it  was  pur- 
chased outright  by  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad,  only 
three  came  into  existence  before  the  Civil  War.  These 
were:  The  Brunswick  and  Florida;  Savannah,  Albany, 
and  Gulf;  and  the  Charleston  and  Savannah. 

The  Brunswick  and  Albany  Railroad 

The  Brunswick  and  Albany  had  its  beginning  in  an 
old  canal  company  which  secured  a  charter  in  1826. 2  It 
failed  and  a  new  charter  was  obtained  in  1834  with  prom- 
ise of  aid  from  the  state.  At  the  same  time  there  was  under 
way  an  enterprise  for  a  railway  from  Brunswick  to  Albany. 
This  was  incorporated  as  the  Brunswick  and  Florida  Rail- 
road Company  in  December,  1835. 3  The  charter  guaran- 
teed that  for  a  period  of  twenty-five  years  no  competing 
company  would  be  chartered  by  the  state  to  run  a  line 
within  twenty  miles  of  its  own.  The  panic  of  1837  put  an 
end  to  the  undertaking.  Nothing  more  was  done  until  the 
fifties,  when  funds  were  raised  and  preparations  made  to 

1  U.  B.  Phillips,  History  of  Transportation  in  the  Eastern  Cotton  Belt 
to  1860,  p.  349. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  357. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  359. 


80         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

build  the  road.  In  the  meantime  the  Savannah  and  Albany 
Railroad  Company  had  been  chartered  in  1847  and  by  1855 
was  ready  to  begin  work  on  its  right  of  way.  The  provision 
of  the  charter  of  the  Brunswick  and  Florida,  guaranteeing 
it  freedom  from  competition,  was  brought  forward  by  that 
company.  This  gave  the  Brunswick  and  Florida  an  advan- 
tage; but  its  financial  position  was  weak,  and  the  company 
was  glad  to  give  up  the  privilege  in  return  for  a  subscrip- 
tion of  $500,000  to  its  stock  by  the  state.  Both  roads  were 
constructed  and  met  at  what  is  now  Waycross.  After  this 
agreement  a  new  company  was  chartered.  The  Savannah 
and  Florida,  which  had  in  turn  become  the  Savannah  and 
Albany1  and  the  Savannah,  Albany,  and  Gulf,  now  became 
the  Atlantic  and  Gulf. 

The  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Railroad 

The  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Railroad  was  designed  to  extend 
from  a  point  near  Waresboro  on  the  Satilla  River  to  the 
western  boundary  of  the  state,  at  any  point  between  Fort 
Gaines  and  the  junction  of  the  Flint  and  Chattahoochee 
Rivers.2  The  object  in  constructing  the  road  was  to  open 
up  a  direct  route  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Among  other 
things  the  charter  provided  that  when  $600,000  should  be 
subscribed  in  good  faith  by  the  public,  $500,000  should  be 
subscribed  by  the  governor  on  behalf  of  the  state,  and  if 
more  than  $600,000  should  be  subscribed  by  the  public, 
the  governor  should  raise  the  state's  subscription  in  the 
same  proportion,  not,  however,  to  exceed  $1,000,000.  To 
pay  the  subscription  of  the  state,  the  governor  was  em- 
powered to  use  any  surplus  which  might  be  in  the  treasury, 
and  if  this  proved  to  be  insufficient,  he  was  given  permis- 
sion to  issue  twenty-year  6  per  cent  coupon  bonds.  Any 
other  road  constructed  in  the  state  could  make  physical 

1  U.  B.  Phillips,  History  of  Transportation  in  the  Eastern  Cotton  Belt 
to  I860,  p.  187. 

2  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxix,  p.  157. 


THE  CHARLESTON  AND  SAVANNAH  RAILROAD     81 

connection  with  this  one,  provided  the  stockholders  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  used  their  own  money  in  building  it. 
In  addition  to  this  state  aid,  Congress  set  aside  400,000 
acres  of  land  lying  along  the  proposed  line,1  the  proceeds 
from  the  sale  of  which  were  to  be  used  to  aid  in  its  con- 
struction. Work  on  the  road  began  very  soon  and  was  pros- 
ecuted so  energetically  that  by  November,  1860,  the  line 
was  completed  to  Thomasville,  160  miles  southwest  of 
Savannah.2  It  was  expected  that  the  work  would  be  com- 
pleted to  Bainbridge,  Georgia,  by  January,  186 1,3  but 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  securing  material,  which  came 
largely  from  England.4  Some  work  was  continued  on  this 
section  of  the  road  until  1864,  when  further  progress  be- 
came impossible  because  of  the  Civil  War.  Not  only  was 
it  impossible  to  push  the  new  work  to  completion,  but  that 
part  of  the  road  which  had  been  finished  suffered  greatly 
from  neglect.5 

The  Charleston  and  Savannah  Railroad 

The  third  road  of  importance  in  this  second  group  of 
southern  roads  was  the  Charleston  and  Savannah,  char- 
tered in  1853. 6  The  following  year  a  survey  of  two  routes 
was  made  between  Charleston  and  Savannah.  The  lower 
route  was  105  miles,  with  a  maximum  grade  of  21  feet  per 
mile.  The  estimated  cost  of  construction  was  $20,000  per 
mile.  This  route  crossed  the  numerous  rivers  flowing  into 
the  Atlantic,  below  the  head  of  schooner  navigation.  The 
so-called  upper  route  was  somewhat  longer,  being  117  miles 
in  length.  It  crossed  the  same  rivers  as  the  other,  but  above 
the  head  of  navigation.  The  estimated  cost  of  this  route 
was  $17,600  per  mile.  The  surveyor  suggested  the  lower 

1  Vernon  s  Railroad  Manual,  1874,  p.  359. 

2  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxxin,  p.  1014. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  348.  4  Ibid.,  p.  893. 

5  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  VI,  pp.  456-58. 

6  Acts  of  South  Carolina,  1853,  No.  4142;  Acts  of  Georgia,  1853- 
54,  p.  406. 


82         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

as  the  more  profitable,  as  it  gave  direct  connection  with 
points  on  the  Georgia  Central  Railroad.1  The  road  was 
built  and  opened  for  traffic  in  the  fall  of  I860,2  but  was 
demolished  by  Sherman  on  his  march  to  the  sea,  so  that 
all  it  possessed  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  a  right  of  way, 
a  graded  roadbed,  and  a  franchise.3 

1  Only  one  man  on  the  entire  line  gave  the  right  of  way,  and  he  after- 
ward enjoyed  the  distinction  of  having  a  locomotive  named  for  him. 

2  Report  of  John  McRae,  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxvn, 
p.  550. 

3  Poor's  Manual,  1881,  p,  384. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SUMMARY  OF  RAILROAD  CONDITIONS  ALONG 
THE  ATLANTIC  SEABOARD  TO  1860 

From  the  foregoing  chapters  it  will  be  seen  that  prior  to 
1860  the  roads  which  were  to  become  the  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  System  were  gradually  growing  in  their  dependence 
on  each  other.  In  1860  the  railroads  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  which  went  into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line,  together 
with  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac,  formed 
the  main  link  in  a  direct  north  and  south  inland  and  water 
line  between  Washington  and  Charleston.  Those  in  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia  were  of  much  less  importance.  They 
formed  no  connecting  link  between  important  centers  of 
trade.  Branching  off  inland  at  Wilmington,  Charleston, 
Savannah,  and  Brunswick,  they  ran  to  the  southwest. 
Moreover,  these  roads  were  built  too  late  to  secure  the 
advantages  which  come  to  new  lines  from  entering  virgin 
territory.  Competition  was  keen  for  what  passenger  and 
freight  traffic  there  was,  and  the  momentum  of  an  early 
start  gave  an  advantage  to  their  competitors.  The  whole 
system  somewhat  resembled  a  fan  and  its  handle,  the 
handle  extending  from  Washington  to  Wilmington  and 
the  fan  being  that  network  which  spread  from  Wilmington 
toward  the  southwest. 

Chief  interest  then  centers  in  the  three  roads  which 
formed  the  line  of  communication  between  Wilmington  and 
Richmond.  The  distance  by  rail  is  245  miles.  The  thre3 
roads,  the  Petersburg,  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh,  and 
the  Richmond  and  Petersburg,  were  all  of  the  same  gauge, 
but  there  was  no  physical  connection  at  Petersburg  or  at 
Weldon.  It  was,  therefore,  impossible  to  transfer  cars  from 
one  road  to  another.  All  through  passengers  and  freight 
had  to  be  transferred  by  omnibus  or  by  wagon.  The  Peters- 


84         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

burg,  tapping  the  Roanoke  country,  brought  produce  to  the 
Appomattox  at  Petersburg,  where  it  could  be  loaded  on  ship 
and  sent  to  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York.  The 
Wilmington  and  Raleigh  connected  the  Roanoke  country 
with  that  of  the  Cape  Fear.  The  main  purpose  held  in  view 
by  the  builders  was  to  collect  the  produce  of  the  various  river 
valleys  which  the  road  crossed  and  take  it  to  a  market 
within  the  borders  of  the  state  of  North  Carolina.  The 
Richmond  and  Petersburg  formed  primarily  a  connecting 
link  between  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac 
and  the  Petersburg  roads.  Before  it  had  been  in  operation 
two  years  it  had  secured  three  fourths  of  the  traffic  which 
had  formerly  gone  via  the  James  and  Appomattox  Rivers 
between  the  two  cities,  Richmond  and  Petersburg. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  construction  of  this  245  miles 
of  road  should  cause  a  rearrangement  of  the  north  and 
south  passenger  and  freight  routes.  The  first  visible  effect 
was  in  passenger  travel  between  the  North  and  South. 
With  the  completion  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg, 
there  was  only  one  break  in  the  continuous  line  of  railroad 
between  New  York  and  Wilmington,  that  from  Washing- 
ton to  Acquia  Creek  on  the  Potomac.  The  time  in  transit 
over  this  route,  in  connection  with  the  line  of  boats  which 
the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  operated  between  Wilming- 
ton and  Charleston,  was  the  quickest  between  the  northern 
cities  and  Charleston.  Competition  between  the  Atlantic 
lines  of  railroad  and  the  ocean  packet  lines  immediately 
developed.  The  railroads,  so  long  as  they  acted  as  a  unit, 
were  able  to  maintain  themselves  in  this  contest  in  spite  of 
the  inconveniences  due  to  the  fact  that  passengers  had  to 
be  conveyed  from  one  line  to  another  in  omnibuses.  In 
order  to  meet  competition  there  were  frequent  reductions 
in  the  through  fare  on  the  part  of  the  railroads. 

In  the  early  period  the  railways  were  merely  supple- 
mental to  the  waterways.  In  the  sense  in  which  the  term  is 
understood  to-day  there  was  no  through  freight.  Almost 


REARRANGEMENT  OF  ROUTES  85 

no  freight  originating  south  of  Wilmington  was  carried 
by  rail  to  New  York,  Philadelphia,  or  Baltimore.  Various 
roads  collected  the  commodities  produced  along  their  hnes 
or  grown  in  that  territory  which  had  access,  by  rivers  or 
by  wagon,  to  them.  The  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and  Au- 
gusta was  a  naval  stores  road,  and  it  constructed  spurs 
branching  off  the  main  line  and  extending  into  the  territory 
producing  tar,  pitch,  turpentine,  and  lumber.  These  sur- 
face lines,  as  they  were  called,  were  of  cheap  construction. 
Cross-ties  were  cut  in  the  adjacent  forests  and  laid  down 
without  grade  or  ballast.  The  rails  were  for  the  most  part 
second-hand  iron  which  had  been  discarded  on  the  main 
line.  Some  of  these  branches  became  permanent  in  later 
years;  many  of  them  were  abandoned  when  the  lumber  and 
naval  stores  business  began  to  decline.  These  articles  were 
collected  and  marketed  chiefly  through  Wilmington.  Agri- 
cultural products  produced  on  the  northern  portion  were 
marketed  over  the  Petersburg.  They  went  to  Petersburg 
or  to  Richmond,  where  they  were  consumed,  forwarded  to 
other  parts  of  the  state,  or  shipped  to  home  or  foreign 
markets.  Besides  handling  what  products  the  Wilmington 
and  Raleigh  turned  over  to  it,  the  Petersburg  received 
from  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston  over  the  Greenesville  and 
Roanoke  a  considerable  amount  of  produce  from  the 
interior  of  North  Carolina.  Much  of  this  had  formerly  gone 
by  wagon  overland  to  Lynchburg.1  This  traffic  consisted 
largely  of  cotton,  tobacco,  grain,  flour,  and  occasionally 
some  live  stock. 

To  the  north  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  was  taking 
to  Richmond  and  Manchester  from  the  Petersburg  raw 
material,  especially  cotton  and  tobacco.  This  was  either 
used  there  or  else  forwarded  to  Fredericksburg,  Lynch- 
burg, or  other  places  in  the  state.2  Besides  supplying  the 

1  Report  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  May 
27, 1840. 

2  Report  of  General  Agent  to  Board  of  Directors,  Richmond  and 
Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  May  27,  1845. 


86         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

local  markets  and  manufactories  with  raw  material,  the 
road,  through  its  Port  Walthall  branch,  was  bringing  the 
cargo  to  ships  bound  for  foreign  ports.  The  construction 
of  a  branch  to  the  James  River  was  carrying  out  still 
further  the  original  idea  of  the  railroad,  to  supplement 
the  water  courses  as  a  means  of  transportation.  From  the 
opening  of  the  branch  in  February,  1844,  to  May,  1845, 
37  ships  were  loaded  with  the  produce  which  came  over 
various  railroads. 1  The  plan  of  employing  branch  lines  was 
furthered  by  the  leasing  of  the  Clover  Hill  Railroad  which 
ran  to  the  coal  mines  in  Chesterfield  County.  The  carrying 
of  coal  was  for  many  years  the  greatest  source  of  revenue 
to  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg. 

Farmers,  lumbermen,  and  the  few  manufacturers  floated 
their  produce  down  the  rivers  and  deposited  it  at  the 
intersection  of  railroad  and  river,  or  carried  it  over  dirt 
roads  in  wagons  to  convenient  railroad  points,  whence 
it  was  distributed  or  taken  to  the  most  suitable  seacoast 
market  and  from  there  trans-shipped  to  the  consumer  at 
home  or  abroad. 

Generally  speaking,  in  the  early  days  the  largest  revenue 
came  from  the  handling  of  local  passengers.  A  period  then 
followed  during  which  the  main  source  of  revenue  was  from 
through  passengers.  A  few  years  prior  to  the  Civil  War 
freight  began  to  take  an  important  place  and  receipts  from 
it  amounted  to  about  one  half  of  the  entire  income.  For 
instance,  the  income  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg 
from  passenger  traffic  during  its  first  year  of  operation  was 
$41,713,  while  that  from  freight  was  only  $7383.2  Again,  in 
1844  the  receipts  for  the  year  preceding  were  $30,665  from 
passenger  traffic  as  compared  with  $17,205  from  freight. 
Of  the  income  from  passenger  traffic,  $22,722  was  from 
local  as  against  $7883  from  through,  by  which  was  meant 
that  which  originated  on  another  road  and  passed  over  the 

1  Report  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  1839. 

2  Ibid.,  1844. 


GROWTH  OF  INCOME  FROM  FREIGHT  TRAFFIC    87 

Richmond  and  Petersburg  or  stopped  at  some  point  on  it. 
There  was  not  much  change  in  1852.  The  report  of  that 
year  shows  receipts  from  local  of  $36,478,  and  from  through 
passenger  traffic  $14,062;  from  freight,  of  $30,000,  exclu- 
sive of  that  from  coal  from  the  Clover  Hill  Railroad  which 
amounted  to  $25,591.  By  1860  the  through  passenger 
business  brought  in  $66,867,  the  local  only  $6000.  The 
freight  business  had  grown  until  the  local  amounted  to 
$49,000,  through  to  $12,000,  and  that  received  from  the 
Clover  Hill  to  $46,885. 

Practically  the  same  was  true  of  the  Petersburg.  In  1859 
its  income  from  freight  was  greater  than  that  from  passen- 
gers. The  income  from  freight  was  $172,838,  as  against 
$138,857  from  passengers.  The  same  was  also  true  of  the 
Wilmington  and  Raleigh.  In  1851  its  receipts  from  through 
passenger  traffic  were  $159,509,  from  local  passengers, 
$75,350,  and  from  freight,  $93,000.  Yet  by  1860  the  same 
changes  had  taken  place  in  its  traffic  as  on  the  other  roads. 
The  income  from  freight  had  outstripped  that  from  pas- 
sengers. While  the  income  from  freight  was  rapidly  in- 
creasing from  1850  to  1860,  its  character  was  also  changing. 
The  supply  of  naval  stores  in  North  Carolina  was  decreas- 
ing, and  many  of  those  who  had  been  engaged  in  this  were 
now  turning  their  attention  to  cotton  and  wheat  raising. 
The  amount  of  cotton  handled  by  the  Wilmington  and 
Raleigh  in  1854  was  7088  bales,  in  1860, 31,256;  the  number 
of  bushels  of  wheat  in  1844  was  1196;  in  1860,  84,741.  Even 
greater  development  was  noticeable  in  the  traffic  of  the 
Petersburg.  Its  chief  articles  of  freight  had  always  been 
agricultural  products.  The  amount  of  cotton  handled  by 
the  road  in  1851  was  12,893  bales.  Ten  years  later  it  han- 
dled 24,652  bales.  The  amount  of  tobacco  handled  had 
increased  from  7959  hogsheads  in  1851  to  14,577  in  1860. 
The  number  of  bushels  of  grain  handled  in  1851  was  less 
than  4000;  by  1860  it  was  329,000. 

It  is  evident  that  freight  was  becoming  the  chief  business 


88         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

of  the  roads.  They  had  been  constructed  in  a  cheap  manner 
because  the  revenue  at  the  time  was  not  judged  sufficient 
to  justify  a  large  investment.  By  1840  it  was  clear  that  the 
roads  and  rolling  stock  were  not  heavy  enough  to  take 
care  of  the  traffic.  In  a  letter  to  Governor  E.  B.  Dudley  of 
North  Carolina,  dated  June  28,  1840,  President  Bird  be- 
moaned the  fact  that  the  Petersburg  was  torn  up  by  car- 
rying heavier  freight  than  that  for  which  it  was  intended, 
and  almost  expressed  his  regret  that  it  was  necessary  for 
his  road  to  carry  freight  at  all.  *  Attempts  were  made  by  all 
the  companies  so  to  improve  their  roads  as  to  meet  the  new 
demands  made  upon  them.  Physical  connection  was  being 
contemplated  so  that  cars  could  be  run  the  whole  length 
of  the  line,  obviating  the  necessity  of  reloading.  The  Civil 
War  prevented  this. 

The  whole  situation  up  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War  may 
then  be  summed  up  by  saying  that  the  roads,  formerly  inde- 
pendent units,  had  been  growing  more  and  more  dependent 
on  each  other.  The  success  or  failure  of  any  one  of  them 
meant  the  success  or  failure  of  all.  Local  travel,  which  had 
at  first  been  the  main  source  of  income,  had  become  least 
important.  Through  passenger  business  had  been  greatly 
developed  and  the  railroads  were  competing  successfully  in 
this  field  with  the  ocean  steamers.  The  amount  of  freight 
handled  was  increasing  faster  than  the  roads  could  take 
care  of  it.  Although  this  freight  was  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  word  local,  only  physical  connection  was  necessary 
between  the  various  lines  in  order  that  cars  might  run 
through  from  Wilmington  to  New  York.  The  making  of 
these  physical  connections  was  prevented  by  the  war. 

Certain  problems  which  have  since  become  familiar  in 
railroading  made  their  appearance  early  in  the  history  of 
these  roads.  The  first  of  these  was  the  question  of  labor  to 
build  them  and  to  operate  them  when  once  they  were  built. 

1  This  letter  is  in  manuscript  among  the  papers  of  Governor  Dudley 
filed  with  the  North  Carolina  Historical  Commission  at  Raleigh. 


SPECIAL  PROBLEMS  89 

The  various  states  subscribed  liberally  to  the  undertakings, 
and  in  return  either  bonds  or  stocks  of  the  companies  were 
issued  to  them.  It  was  soon  necessary  to  determine  whether 
the  state  as  such  had  power  to  regulate,  or  whether  its 
power  in  the  management  of  the  roads  was,  like  that  of  any 
other  investor,  proportional  to  the  amount  of  the  invest- 
ment. Since  all  the  roads  were  separate,  the  question  of 
rates  on  through  passengers  and  freight  had  to  be  settled. 
The  problem  of  the  short  and  long  haul,  in  exactly  the 
same  form  as  it  made  its  appearance  later,  soon  arose.  Last 
of  all,  the  question  of  agreements  between  the  roads  them- 
selves and  competition  with  other  roads,  especially  the 
Virginia  and  Tennessee  and  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke, 
appeared.  Competition  with  steamship  lines  on  the  Atlan- 
tic had  been  present  from  the  beginning. 

A  considerable  part  of  the  labor  necessary  to  build 
the  roads  was  obtained  from  the  farmers  who  lived  in  the 
immediate  vicinity.  In  many  cases  they  did  the  grading 
through  their  own  land  with  their  own  slaves.  Some  of 
them  received  stock  in  return  for  work;  some  were  glad 
enough  to  give  this  much  to  the  company  in  return  for  the 
advantages  which  they  hoped  to  receive  from  it.  This  was 
particularly  true  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh.  The  ordi- 
nary method  of  getting  the  roads  graded,  however,  was  to 
let  out  sections  by  contract.  The  contractors  hired  slaves 
from  their  owners  for  a  specified  sum  and  board  and  clothing 
for  a  year.  While  some  of  the  roads  were  being  built  the 
price  of  cotton  was  low,  getting  it  to  market  was  difficult 
and  expensive,  and  owners  found  it  more  profitable  to  hire 
out  their  slaves  to  contractors  than  to  use  them  in  raising 
cotton.  Many  contractors  having  secured  their  tools  and 
organized  their  labor  force,  went  from  one  job  to  another 
as  the  roads  were  completed.  For  instance,  gangs  which 
were  employed  on  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and 
Potomac  were  transferred  to  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg 
when  the  former  was  completed. 


90        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

For  the  rough  work  of  operating  and  loading  trains 
negroes  were  hired  directly  by  the  railroad  company.  The 
contracts  or  bonds  were  signed  on  the  first  of  January.  The 
usual  price  for  the  ordinary  unskilled  laborer  was  from  $75 
to  $100  and  his  "find";  that  of  the  skilled  laborer,  such  as 
fireman  or  brakeman,  was  often  as  high  as  $250  per  year. 
In  the  early  history  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh,  an 
engineer  made  a  comfortable  fortune  by  buying  unskilled 
laborers  at  the  prevailing  price,  training  them  himself,  and 
letting  them  to  the  company,  thus  receiving  a  handsome 
dividend  on  his  investment.1  For  a  number  of  years  the 
system  of  using  hired  slaves  was  employed  with  success, 
but  as  agriculture  became  more  profitable,  it  was  increas- 
ingly difficult  to  secure  them  and  resort  was  had  to  hiring 
white  men  for  the  work.  This  proved  unsuccessful  as  the 
class  of  white  men  secured  was  less  reliable  than  the 
slaves.  As  the  price  of  slave  labor  advanced  the  roads 
began  to  buy  slaves  of  their  own.  In  1857  the  Wilmington 
and  Weldon  owned  thirteen,  valued  at  $15,000,  and  the 
Report  of  1860  advises  the  purchase  of  twenty  more  for 
use  on  trains  and  at  warehouses. 

The  question  of  the  fairness  of  a  higher  proportional 
charge  for  a  short  haul  than  for  a  long  one  soon  made  its 
appearance.  It  arose  first  in  the  Roanoke  section  of  North 
Carolina,  when  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  charged  a 
higher  rate  for  the  haul  to  Weldon  than  over  the  whole  line. 
The  farmers  of  the  section  complained  of  the  injustice  of 
it,  but  were  met  by  the  argument  that  frequently  the  regu- 
lar through  train  could  not  carry  all  the  produce  and  it  was 
necessary  to  run  a  train  empty  from  Wilmington  to  within 
a  short  distance  of  Weldon,  and  receive  pay  for  the  last 
thirty  miles  only.  The  solution  was  to  make  a  heavier 
charge  on  those  who  were  receiving  extra  accommodation. 

1  On  the  authority  of  Mr.  Walker  Meares  of  Wilmington,  North 
Carolina,  who  was  present  when  President  E.  B.  Dudley  turned  the 
first  shovel  of  dirt  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh. 


SPECIAL  PROBLEMS  91 

Complaint  arose  also  along  the  whole  line  because  a  higher 
proportional  rate  was  charged  for  freight  originating  on  the 
direct  line  than  for  that  received  from  other  roads  or  from 
outlying  districts.  The  reply  of  the  road  was  that  it  must  be 
supported  by  those  who  were  compelled  to  ship  over  it. 
If  they  supported  it  alone,  they  must  necessarily  pay  a  high 
freight  rate.  The  carrying  of  additional  freight  and  passen- 
gers attracted  from  territory  which  would  not  have  patron- 
ized the  road  otherwise,  cost  very  little  more  and  the  in- 
come was  almost  clear  gain.  This  gain  could  be  applied  to 
paying  dividends  and  operating  expenses  and  the  local 
rates  thereby  reduced.  The  question  was  whether  or  not  the 
regular  patrons  of  the  road  would  support  it  alone  or  would 
receive  assistance  from  shippers  and  passengers  attracted 
by  lower  rates. 

Competition  was  with  through  steamers  and  other  rail- 
roads, and  applied  mainly  to  passengers.  New  York  was 
the  principal  starting-point  and  Charleston  the  destination 
of  most  of  the  north  and  south  travel. l  The  Atlantic  inland 
line  and  the  ocean  vessels  competed  for  this.  Competition 
arose  also  with  the  Virginia  and  Tennessee  and  the  Ports- 
mouth and  Roanoke  Railroads.2  In  order  to  have  any 
chance  at  securing  part  of  the  through  north  and  south 
travel  it  was  necessary  that  there  should  be  at  least  a 
semblance  of  a  through  route  between  New  York  and 
Charleston.  This  did  not  exist  before  1840.  Upon  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  what  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  through  inland  rail  and  water  route  came  into 
existence.  There  was  a  continuous  line  of  railroad  from  New 
York  to  Washington;  a  steamboat  and  a  stage  line  from 
Washington  to  the  terminus  of  the  Richmond,  Fredericks- 
burg, and  Potomac;  a  continuous  line  to  Wilmington  bar- 
ring the  breaks  at  Richmond,  Petersburg,  and  Weldon; 

1  Report  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company,  No- 
vember 8,  1849. 

2  Ibid.,  November  11,  1858. 


92         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

and  a  steamboat  line  run  in  connection  with  the  Wilming- 
ton and  Raleigh  from  Wilmington  to  Charleston.  In  order 
to  secure  a  part  of  the  traffic,  two  things  were  necessary. 
First,  this  inland  route  must  offer  accommodations  equal 
in  a  measure  to  those  offered  by  the  steamship.  This  could 
be  accomplished  by  improving  the  roads,  filling  in  gaps 
where  no  railroad  existed,  and  so  arranging  a  schedule  as 
to  involve  a  minimum  of  time.  Second,  through  tickets 
must  be  sold  at  a  price  as  low  as  that  of  the  water  line.  At 
least  five  distinct  roads  were  concerned,  and  it  would  have 
been  little  less  than  a  miracle  if  they  had  been  able  to  reach 
an  agreement  satisfactory  to  all.  The  great  bone  of  conten- 
tion was  the  through  ticket  and  how  much  each  road  must 
sacrifice  to  enable  all  of  them  together  to  offer  a  rate  which 
would  attract  patronage.  One  road  which  insisted  on  having 
as  its  share  of  the  through  fare  its  local  rate  could  upset  the 
whole  scheme.  The  arrangement  aimed  at  was  to  set  a  rate 
between  New  York  and  Charleston  which  would  meet  that 
of  the  packet  lines,  and  prorate  the  amount  to  each  road 
according  to  mileage.  This  agreement  prevailed  for  the  most 
part,  but  not  without  friction.  Whenever  any  particular 
road  found  itself  in  a  position  to  throw  the  burden  of  adver- 
tising and  incidental  expenses  on  the  others,  it  invariably 
did  so. 

In  spite  of  the  difficulties  which  arose  and  the  temporary 
abandonment  of  the  through  ticket  from  time  to  time,  an 
effort  was  made  to  meet  the  ocean  competition.  It  is  stated 
in  the  Report  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  for  the  year 
1842  that  a  friendly  understanding  had  been  reached  by 
the  several  companies  of  the  Atlantic  route  from  New  York 
to  New  Orleans  and  that  a  through  ticket  had  been  agreed 
on  at  a  rate  of  fare  which  would  induce  travelers  to  take 
this  route  instead  of  the  ocean  packet  lines.  The  fare  over 
the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  in  1841  was  $20,  but  this  was 
not  sufficiently  low  and  an  arrangement  was  effected  whereby 
the  fare  should  be  gradually  lowered  until  it  was  reduced  to 


COMPETITION  WITH  OCEAN  SHIP  LINES        93 

$12  in  1845.  This  diverted  a  great  deal  of  the  ocean  travel. 
The  number  of  through  passengers  carried  in  1845  by  the 
Wilmington  and  Raleigh  was  60  per  cent  greater  than  in 
1841. 1  This  was  only  temporary,  and  it  was  soon  necessary 
for  the  roads  to  make  another  reduction.2  These  constant 
reductions  in  fare  became  burdensome.  Complaint  arose 
against  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  because  it  would  bear  none 
of  the  expense  incident  to  securing  the  through  travel  from 
which  it  received  as  much  benefit  as  the  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina  roads.  During  the  fifties  this  was  constantly  called 
to  the  attention  of  the  Virginia  legislature.  It  was  asked  to 
keep  the  behavior  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  in  mind  when 
that  road  applied  for  concessions  for  its  line  in  the  western 
part  of  the  state. 

Water  competition  was  very  hard  to  meet.  Various  ex- 
pedients were  suggested  by  the  roads  to  improve  the  situa- 
tion. Each  time  the  improvement  suggested  was  to  be  made 
by  some  road  other  than  the  one  making  the  suggestion. 
Officers  of  the  Petersburg  believed  that  the  solution  was 
in  building  roads  south  so  as  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  the 
water  journey  from  Wilmington  to  Charleston.3  The  Wil- 
mington and  Raleigh  was  disgusted  with  the  action  of  the 
roads  to  the  north  and  believed  that  if  the  Atlantic  line 
retained  a  fair  share  of  the  travel,  every  facility  ought  to 
be  offered  by  which  a  speedy  transit  and  an  unbroken  con- 
nection should  be  secured  for  the  passengers.  The  quarrel 
between  the  roads  to  the  north  over  the  through  ticket 
drove  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  to  the  point  of  separa- 
tion, and  it  threatened  to  wash  its  hands  of  the  whole  mat- 
ter by  getting  access  to  the  ocean  either  by  building  a  road 
of  its  own  from  Weldon  to  the  sea  or  by  securing  a  part 
interest  in  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke.  This  would  give 

1  Reports  of  Examining  and  Accounts  Committee  of  the  Wilming- 
ton and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company,  November  5,  1845,  North  Caro- 
lina State  Library. 

2  Report  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  1848. 

3  Ibid.,  1847. 


94         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  access  to  Norfolk,  from  which 
place  its  passengers  could  again  resume  travel  by  boat  and 
reach  their  northern  destination.  The  threat  was  not 
carried  out. 

It  can  easily  be  seen  that  the  Atlantic  line,  with  its  nu- 
merous roads  and  its  contentions,  was  in  a  poor  position 
to  meet  water  competition.  Travelers  bound  for  Baltimore 
upon  arriving  at  Weldon  had  their  choice  of  going  over  the 
Atlantic  line  or  over  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  to  Nor- 
folk and  then  by  boat.  The  following  advertisement, 
appearing  in  the  Charleston  Courier  of  December  17,  1839, 
sets  forth  the  advantage  of  the  land  route: 

Travelers  going  north  by  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Rail- 
road and  Steamboat  Line  will  find  the  route  through  Petersburg, 
Richmond,  Washington,  and  Baltimore  as  expeditious,  cheap, 
and  pleasant  as  any  other.  The  companies  on  this  route  carry  the 
Great  Mail  and  have  a  connecting  line  throughout.  The  Rail- 
roads are  in  good  order,  the  engines  new  and  of  the  most  approved 
construction,  the  cars  are  eight  wheeled,  with  private  apartments 
for  ladies,  and  there  is  a  new  and  splendid  steamboat  on  the 
Potomac.  No  expense  has  been  spared  to  make  this  route  the 
most  perfect  in  the  country. 

Travelers  wishing  to  take  this  route  are  informed  that  after 
reaching  Weldon,  the  termination  of  the  Wilmington  line,  they 
continue  on  in  the  Wilmington  cars  li  miles  further  to  Garys- 
burg,  where  they  breakfast,  and  take  the  cars  of  the  Petersburg 
Railroad  Company.  Here  they  pay  through  to  Baltimore  and 
receive  tickets  for  their  baggage  which  relieve  them  of  all  trouble 
and  expense  on  that  score.  They  dine  in  Petersburg,  sup  in  Fred- 
ericksburg, sleep  on  board  the  Potomac  steamboat,  breakfast 
the  next  morning  in  Baltimore,  whence  they  can  immediately 
proceed  to  Philadelphia  and  New  York  the  same  day. 

Distances  by  this  route: 

Petersburg  Railroad  60  miles 

Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  22  miles 
Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac       61  miles 

Stages  to  Potomac  Creek  9  miles 

Potomac  Steamboat  50  miles 

Baltimore  and  Washington  Railroad  49  miles 


DESCRIPTION  OF  A  RAILROAD-WATER  TRIP      95 

Fare  through  from  Garysburg  to  Baltimore,  $12.50.  This  in- 
cludes all  expenses  except  meals. 

Offices  of  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  August  17,  1839. 

In  the  same  issue  in  which  the  advertisement  quoted 
appeared,  the  following  card  was  inserted,  signed  by  eleven 
passengers  who  were  traveling  over  this  route  to  the 
South : 

We,  the  undersigned  passengers  on  the  Railroad  Line  from 
Baltimore  to  Charleston,  hereby  state  for  the  information  of  the 
public,  and  as  a  caution  to  Travelers,  that  we  with  about  thirty 
others  left  Washington  City  in  the  evening  of  the  12th  instant 
on  the  steamer  Augusta,  having  had  positive  assurance  from  the 
agent  of  the  above  line  at  Baltimore  and  Washington  that  we 
should  arrive  at  Fredericksburg  in  time  for  the  Richmond  cars, 
and  that  we  should  meet  with  no  delays  whatever  on  the  whole 
route. 

On  reaching  Fredericksburg  we  ascertained  that  the  Richmond 
cars  had  been  gone  but  ten  minutes  and  that  the  conductor  was 
aware  of  our  coming  and  our  expectations  to  proceed  on  our 
journey  without  delay!  Thus,  more  than  forty  passengers,  men, 
women  and  children,  were  left  in  the  streets  of  Fredericksburg  at 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  dependent  upon  the  charity  of  the 
citizens  for  shelter  and  for  providing  a  secure  deposit  for  their 
baggage!  We  were  conveyed  the  next  day  to  Richmond  in  a  train 
of  freight  cars  with  all  the  inconvenience  and  discomforts  inci- 
dent to  such  a  mode  of  conveyance.  At  Richmond  we  had  arrived 
within  fifty  yards  of  the  depot  for  the  Petersburg  train  when  the 
cars  again  left  us,  causing  another  unavoidable  and  disagreeable 
delay. 

We  have  deemed  it  our  duty  to  make  the  above  statement  of 
facts  in  order  that  the  same  wanton  deceptions  and  impositions 
may  not  be  practiced  upon  other  travelers.  We  take  pleasure  in 
stating  that  the  conduct  of  the  agents  and  conductors  on  the 
remainder  of  the  route  to  Charleston  has  been  such  as  to  meet 
with  our  cordial  approbation.1 

However  poor  the  accommodations  may  have  been  on 
these  roads,  their  competitor,  the  Portsmouth  and  Roa- 
noke, had  no  better  to  offer  and  the  traveler  had  to  choose 

1  Charleston  Courier,  December  17,  1839. 


96         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

between  the  two.  Intense  rivalry  had  existed  from  the 
very  beginning.  The  state  had  subscribed  two  fifths  of  the 
capital  of  the  Petersburg  when  it  was  incorporated  in 
1830. x  When  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  applied  for  a 
charter  in  1832,  the  Petersburg  did  everything  in  its  power 
to  defeat  the  bill.  The  Petersburg  objected  that  the  state, 
if  it  subscribed  to  the  stock  of  the  Portsmouth  and  Roa- 
noke, would  be  aiding  a  competitor  of  a  road  in  which  it 
was  already  interested.  This  was  true  and  was  afterward 
a  source  of  great  annoyance  to  the  state.  The  Portsmouth 
and  Roanoke  was  chartered  and  built  nevertheless.  Upon 
its  completion  keen  competition  broke  out.  Each  road 
was  struggling  desperately  to  secure  a  monopoly  of  the 
Roanoke  trade  and  travel  between  Weldon  and  Baltimore. 

The  Board  of  Public  Works  in  its  Report  to  the  legisla- 
ture of  Virginia  in  1843  took  a  philosophical  view  of  the 
contest,  remarking  that  "all  the  revenue  which  has  hereto- 
fore been  derived  from  those  sources  of  profit  are  not  more 
than  sufficient  for  the  legitimate  and  proper  wants  and 
purposes  of  either  one  of  the  companies.  Such  a  state  of 
things  ought  not,  however,  to  excite  great  surprise  or  to 
visit  unlimited  censure  upon  the  parties.  The  great  error 
must  be  attributed  to  the  policy  which  sanctioned  the 
establishment  of  two  improvements  of  such  magnitude  to 
contend  at  the  same  points  for  trade  which  has  proven 
itself  so  far  to  be  inadequate  to  the  purposes  of  both."  It 
then  calmly  predicts  the  failure  of  the  Portsmouth  and 
Roanoke. 

It  was  evident  from  the  beginning  that  the  road  could 
not  succeed.  President  Bird  of  the  Petersburg  Company 
wrote  to  Governor  Dudley  of  North  Carolina  in  1840  that 
he  was  morally  certain  that  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke 
could  not  sustain  itself  and  that  poverty  was  written  on  it 
from  one  end  to  the  other.  Acting  on  this  assumption,  the 
Petersburg  would  not  make  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke 

1  See  chapter  in. 


FAILURE  OF  PORTSMOUTH  AND  ROANOKE     97 

a  proposition  that  it  could  afford  to  accept  for  half  interest 
in  the  bridge  over  the  Roanoke  River  at  Weldon,  thinking 
that  it  was  only  a  question  of  months  till  the  other  road 
would  have  to  accept  any  terms  it  would  offer.  The  Ports- 
mouth and  Roanoke  held  out  longer  than  was  expected, 
continuing  to  run  its  trains  till  the  summer  of  1845.  Having 
failed  to  secure  the  bridge,  the  Petersburg  built  one  of  its 
own  and  ran  its  cars  into  Weldon  in  1843.  The  Portsmouth 
and  Roanoke  was  heavily  mortgaged.  The  mortgage  by 
some  oversight  was  not  recorded  in  the  North  Carolina 
records,  and  through  this  technical  error  Mr.  F.  E.  Rives 
of  North  Carolina  secured  possession  of  the  bridge  and  the 
seventeen  miles  of  line  lying  in  North  Carolina.  He  then 
attempted  to  operate  this  as  a  separate  railroad  by  borrow- 
ing an  engine  and  cars  from  the  Petersburg  and  by  con- 
structing a  temporary  track  from  the  Petersburg  to  the 
Portsmouth  and  Roanoke.  Having  done  this,  he  tore  up 
some  two  miles  of  the  line  so  that  the  Portsmouth  and 
Roanoke  could  not  run  its  trains  over  his  road.  The  presi- 
dent of  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  appeared  with  a  body 
of  friends,  repaired  the  track,  overturned  the  Petersburg 
engine  and  cars,  and  continued  to  run  trains.  Rives  was 
arraigned  and  fined  $25  in  the  Superior  Court  of  Law  and 
Equity  in  Northampton  County,  North  Carolina. 

In  1845  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  ceased  to  run  its 
trains.  This  was  an  opportunity  for  the  Petersburg.  It  no 
longer  needed  the  Weldon  bridge,  having  built  one  of  its 
own.  Yet  in  order  to  prevent  any  reorganized  company 
from  using  it,  the  Petersburg  made  a  brutally  frank  con- 
tract with  Rives,  according  to  the  terms  of  which  the  com- 
pany was  to  pay  him  $60,000  in  specified  installments 
"provided  the  railroad  and  bridge  remain  unused  for  trans- 
portation of  persons  and  produce."  The  Board  of  Public 
Works  opposed  the  contract  with  Rives,  but  it  was  carried 
out  and  was  "productive  of  great  benefits  both  to  the 
Petersburg  and  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Po- 


98         THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

tomac."  1  The  fact  that  such  a  contract  could  be  made  in 
the  state  was  a  sad  commentary  on  its  power  or  willingness 
to  regulate  its  railroads.  After  the  Portsmouth  and  Roa- 
noke had  been  discontinued  for  a  year,  an  act  was  passed  by 
the  legislature  in  February,  1846,  requiring  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  to  regulate  the  rates  of  the  roads  and  to  pre- 
vent the  combination  of  the  inland  roads  against  the 
Portsmouth  and  Roanoke.2  The  act  authorized  the  reorgan- 
ization of  the  road  as  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke. 

The  Petersburg  was  not  altogether  a  fair  competitor, 
nor  did  it  prove  to  be  a  fairer  ally  for  the  Richmond  and 
Petersburg  and  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Po- 
tomac. Upon  the  completion  of  the  Richmond  and  Peters- 
burg, and  before  the  failure  of  the  Portsmouth  and  Roa- 
noke, a  through  ticket  between  Weldon  and  Washington 
had  been  agreed  upon  by  the  inland  roads  to  combat  the 
so-called  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  and  Bay  Line.  The 
agreement,  suggested  by  the  Petersburg  and  agreed  to  by 
the  others,  provided  that  the  Potomac  Stage  and  Steam- 
boat Company  should  receive  $2.25;  the  Richmond,  Fred- 
ericksburg, and  Potomac,  $3.37§;  the  Richmond  and 
Petersburg,  $1.25;  the  Petersburg  to  Garysburg,  $3.12j; 
the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  charged  $.50  from  Garys- 
burg to  Weldon,  lj  miles,  making  a  total  of  $10.50. 

During  the  bridge  controversy  between  the  two  roads 
entering  Weldon,  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  refused  to 
carry  passengers  coming  south  from  Garysburg  to  Weldon. 
The  Petersburg  then  put  on  a  boat  line  and  omnibuses  to 
take  passengers  into  Weldon,  for  which  a  fifty-cent  charge 
was  made.  While  these  improvements  were  going  on  at  the 
south,  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  was 
completing  its  line  to  Acquia  Creek  on  the  Potomac.  It 
gave  notice  to  the  other  roads  of  a  rearrangement  of  the 

1  Report  of  President  Bird  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company  to 
the  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia,  November  1,  1845. 

2  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1845-46. 


CONTROVERSY  OVER  THROUGH  TICKET       99 

through  ticket.1  The  question  having  arisen,  a  committee 
of  one  director  from  each  company  was  appointed  to 
reach  some  agreement.  This  committee  met  on  December 
13,   1842,  and  adopted  the  following: 2 

The  Potomac  Boat  Line $2. 00 

The  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac.  $4.00 

The  Richmond  and  Petersburg $1 .  37 

The  Petersburg $3.12 

Total  fare $10.50 

It  was  further  agreed  that  if  the  fare  was  either  raised  or 
lowered  the  amount  should  be  divided  in  the  same  ratio. 

Against  this  ticket  the  Petersburg  Company  justly 
complained.  It  had  made  improvements  to  accommodate 
the  travel  at  a  cost  of  nearly  $60,000.  Its  share  of  the  fare 
had  not  only  not  been  increased,  but  the  fifty  cents  which 
it  formerly  received  for  carrying  passengers  from  Garys- 
burg  to  Weldon  had  been  taken  away.  This  was  manifestly 
unjust.  The  road  accepted  the  ticket  according  to  a  letter 
of  the  president  dated  July  7,  1844,  as  better  than  no  ticket 
at  all,  with  the  intention  of  insisting  on  a  fairer  division 
as  soon  as  it  lay  in  its  power  to  do  so.  About  the  same  time 
the  board  of  directors  of  the  Petersburg  adopted  a  resolu- 
tion notifying  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac 
and  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  that  it  would  not  issue 
through  tickets  after  August  15,  1844,  unless  the  rate  of 
travel  per  mile  should  be  equal  on  all  the  roads,  the  rate  per 
mile  on  the  Potomac  River  should  be  equal  to  one  half  that 
amount,  and  the  expense  of  advertising  and  agencies  should 
be  borne  by  the  companies  in  proportion  to  the  interest 
they  had  in  keeping  up  the  same. 

In  October  it  was  agreed  by  all  the  companies  to  submit 
the  whole  matter  to  the  Board  of  Public  Works  for  arbitra- 

1  Report  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  1846. 

2  Proceedings  of  an  adjourned  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the 
Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  Railroad  Company,  held  in 
Richmond,  July  21,  1846. 


100       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

tion.  The  board  was  slow  in  acting,  and  before  the  question 
was  decided  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  ceased  to  run 
its  trains.  This  put  the  Petersburg  in  a  position  to  dictate 
rather  than  be  dictated  to.  In  April  of  the  next  year,  1845, 
the  Petersburg  requested  that  the  reference  to  the  board  be 
withdrawn.  The  board  gave  its  assent,  provided  it  was  con- 
curred in  by  the  other  roads.  They  did  not  agree  to  this, 
whereupon  the  Petersburg  notified  the  others  that  since 
the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  had  ceased  to  run  its  trains 
there  was  nothing  to  arbitrate,  and  that  it  would  sell 
through  tickets  only  on  condition  that  its  share  of  the  ticket 
should  be  its  local  fare  from  Weldon  to  Petersburg.  No 
settlement  of  the  question  was  effected. 

The  Petersburg  then  opened  up  another  route  by  means 
of  its  own  road,  the  City  Point  Railroad,  and  the  James 
River  and  Bay  boats.  Through  tickets  were  sold  over  this 
line  and  extensive  advertising  was  done  to  secure  patron- 
age. To  meet  this  situation  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg 
and  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  put  on  a 
line  of  boats  from  Port  Walthall  to  Norfolk.  Free  passes 
were  used  extensively  on  each  of  these  new  competing  lines. 
This  question,  together  with  that  of  the  actions  of  the  com- 
panies in  establishing  the  lines,  came  before  the  Board  of 
Public  Works.  The  board  realized  the  "judiciousness"  of 
it,  but  "advised"  that  these  routes  be  discontinued.  The 
attitude  of  the  roads  on  the  question  of  passes  was  that  if 
law  was  not  violated  in  giving  free  passes  in  return  for  past 
benefits,  it  could  not  be  violated  by  giving  passes  in  return 
for  future  benefits.  The  impotence  of  the  board  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  state  to  settle  a  contest  which  was  so  evi- 
dently a  matter  for  state  intervention  shows  how  little 
authority  the  state  had  in  regulating  its  railroads. 

The  question  of  the  through  ticket  was  in  constant  con- 
troversy up  to  the  Civil  War.  The  Petersburg  could  enforce 
its  demands  so  long  as  it  did  not  have  competition.  On  this 
point,  however,  it  had  miscalculated.  The  Portsmouth  and 


CONTROVERSY  OVER  THROUGH  TICKET      101 

Roanoke  was  reorganized  as  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke 
and  began  to  run  its  trains  again  in  November,  1851.  This 
gave  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  rather  than  the  Peters- 
burg the  commanding  position,  and  the  former  road  now 
proceeded  to  demand  a  lion's  share  of  the  through  ticket. 
The  Wilmington  and  Weldon  in  its  Report  of  1858  com- 
plains that  it  was  suffering  because  the  Richmond  and 
Petersburg  had  refused  to  be  a  partner  to  through  tickets. 
The  Port  Walthall  line  of  boats  was  taken  off  and  at  the 
same  time  passenger  trains  on  the  Port  Walthall  Branch 
were  discontinued.  A  conference  of  all  the  companies  inter- 
ested in  through  ticket  problems  between  New  York  and 
Charleston,  for  reapportioning  rates  of  fare  and  arranging 
for  through  checks  for  baggage,  was  held  and  the  matter 
was  finally  settled.1 

1  Report  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  1858. 


CHAPTER  VII 
GROWTH  FROM  THE  CIVIL  WAR  TO  1902 

All  of  the  roads  stretching  along  the  South  Atlantic  Coast 
were  in  a  similar  condition  during  the  Civil  War.  A  period  of 
increased  receipts  due  to  the  carrying  of  soldiers  and  muni- 
tions of  war  for  the  Confederate  government  was  followed 
by  a  period  of  deterioration  due  to  hard  use  and  lack  of 
material  for  repairs.  Toward  the  end  of  the  struggle  they 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Federal  forces,  were  used  during 
a  few  months  for  military  purposes,  and  were  eventually 
turned  back  to  their  owners,  largely  dismantled.  The  first 
tasks  undertaken  on  the  return  of  peace  were  the  rehabili- 
tation of  the  roads  and  the  forming  of  physical  connec- 
tions between  the  various  units.  This  was  especially  nec- 
essary in  the  case  of  the  small  systems  of  roads  in  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida  which  had  been  con- 
structed just  prior  to  1860  and  whose  growth  had  been 
arrested  by  the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  The  physical  con- 
nections at  the  north  and  the  improvements  in  the  south 
materially  changed  the  nature  of  the  commodities  handled 
and  truck-growing  became  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  in- 
come. 

I 
The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  Virginia  Group 

The  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad 

The  Richmond  and  Petersburg  furnishes  a  good  example 
of  how  traffic  was  increased.  It  was  the  main  line  over 
which  travel  and  freight  reached  the  capital  of  the  Con- 
federacy and  over  which  soldiers  were  transported  to  and 
from  Richmond.  Its  receipts  were  largely  in  depreciated 


THE  RICHMOND  AND  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD   103 

Confederate  money  which  finally  became  worthless.1  A 
contract  was  entered  into  for  the  transportation  of  the 
Confederate  States'  mail  once  daily,  at  an  annual  com- 
pensation of  $3675.  Throughout  the  period  of  the  war  the 
cars  were  in  constant  use,  very  little  time  was  allowed 
for  repairs,  and  the  number  of  troops  and  amount  of  mu- 
nitions of  war  taxed  the  road  to  the  utmost.2  Through 
traffic  arrangements  at  Richmond  were  discontinued  by 
the  occupation  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  by  the  Fed- 
eral forces  early  in  1864,  and  omnibuses  were  laid  up, 
and  horses  sold.3 

When  the  Confederate  army  abandoned  Richmond  on 
April  3,  1865,  it  burned  the  long  bridge  over  the  James 
River  and  the  depot  at  Richmond.  The  treasurer  of  the 
railroad  company  was  wounded  in  an  attempt  to  secure 
the  books  and  records,  all  of  which  were  consequently 
burned  with  the  depot  and  workshops,  though  the  sheds 
and  most  of  the  rolling  stock  were  saved.4  The  purely 
physical  loss  was  estimated  at  $254,318,  nearly  a  third  of 
the  capitalization  of  the  road.5  E.  H.  Gill,  superintendent 
and  engineer,  gives  a  graphic  account  of  the  events  in 
April:  6 

On  Sunday  evening  the  second  of  April  last,  a  Colonel  of  the 
Confederate  army  called  at  my  office  and  directed  that  trains  for 
transportation  of  3000  troops  for  Petersburg  should  be  kept  in 
readiness  during  the  night.  I  gave  the  necessary  instructions  and 
the  trains  were  prepared,  but  as  troops  did  not  arrive  and  as  it 
was  reported  that  Richmond  would  be  evacuated,  the  trains  were 
sent  to  Manchester  as  a  place  of  safety  early  on  the  following 

1  See  Appendix,  Table  VI. 

2  Report  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company, 
May  27,  1862. 

3  Report  of  President  Ellis,  November  29,  1864.  (Secured  by  chance 
after  the  fire.) 

4  Report  of  President  Ellis  at  called  meeting,  July  28,  1865. 

5  Report  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  1872, 
p.  60. 

6  Report  of  Superintendent  E.  H.  Gill,  October  21,  1865. 


104        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

morning.  Shortly  after,  a  detachment  of  the  retreating  army  left 
behind  for  that  purpose,  as  the  Lieutenant  of  Engineers  in  com- 
mand informed  me,  set  fire  to  the  James  River  bridge  and  all 
access  to  trains  was  cut  off.  The  conductors,  engineers  and  agents 
having  charge  of  them  had  to  seek  places  of  safety,  and  while  the 
cars  were  thus  temporarily  deserted  in  Manchester,  they  were 
robbed  of  their  furniture,  head  linings,  windows  and  window 
blinds,  and  left  mere  wrecks  or  shells.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that 
upon  resuming  operations  we  were  nearly  destitute  of  everything 
but  a  railroad  track,  the  iron  and  ties  of  which  were  pretty  well 
worn,  a  few  small  engines,  a  few  coaches  destitute  of  seats  and 
windows,  a  few  box  cars  and  about  forty  coal  cars;  but  the  zeal 
and  energy  of  our  officers,  agents  and  employees  had  not  de- 
serted them,  and  though  it  was  not  in  our  power  to  furnish  the 
traveling  public  with  our  usual  accommodations,  we  did  furnish 
them  with  transportation  by  two  daily  trains  between  Manchester 
and  Petersburg. 

President  Ellis  adds :  1 

From  the  third  of  April  to  the  third  of  July  the  United  States 
Military  Railway  Corps  had  charge  of  the  road  for  government 
purposes,  collecting  the  receipts  to  pay  expenses.  So  soon  as  it  was 
returned  to  the  management  of  the  Company's  officers,  every 
effort  was  made  by  them  to  put  it  in  condition  to  do  all  the  serv- 
ice required.  The  company  had  during  the  war  purchased  of  the 
Confederate  military  authorities  three  captured  locomotives; 
they  have  since  been  restored  to  the  original  owners. 

The  Port  Walthall  Branch  was  disused  after  the  evacu- 
ation of  Norfolk  in  1864.  Most  of  the  track  had  been  re- 
moved to  maintain  the  main  line  because  of  the  difficulty 
of  procuring  iron  and  the  branch  was  never  rebuilt. 

Temporary  workshops  were  established  on  the  south  side 
of  the  James  River  at  Richmond.  The  bridge  was  immedi- 
ately built  at  a  cost  of  $118,245  and  opened  on  May  25, 
1866.  The  new  bridge  was  2862  feet  long  between  abut- 
ments, divided  into  nineteen  spans,  and  the  track  was  sixty 
feet  above  low  water  in  the  river.2  The  earnings  for  this  year 

1  Report  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  July 
28,  1865. 

2  Ibid.,  November  27,  1866. 


THE  RICHMOND  AND  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD  105 

were  also  materially  reduced  because  of  the  bad  condition 
of  the  road,  the  failure  of  crops  in  Virginia,  and  the  preva- 
lence for  several  months  during  the  year  of  cholera  in  Rich- 
mond. The  people  possessed  neither  the  means  nor  the 
desire  to  travel,  and  years  of  toil  were  needed  to  restore 
to  fullness  the  empty  warehouses,  granaries,  and  cotton 
presses.  To  quote  Superintendent  Gill  again: T  "It  is  idle  to 
suppose  that  by  low  and  unremunerative  rates  or  charges 
or  by  ruinous  rates  of  speed  we  can  draw  passengers  to 
roads  when  they  do  not  possess  means  at  this  time  to  travel, 
or  to  obtain  freight  when  it  does  not  exist." 

In  order  to  tide  the  road  over  its  difficulties,  the  legis- 
lature passed  an  act  allowing  the  company  to  mortgage 
its  entire  property  to  the  amount  of  $175,000.2  The  state 
again  showed  its  liberality  by  making  these  bonds  exempt 
from  state  and  municipal  taxes.  Nevertheless,  the  road 
was  hard-pressed  and  something  had  to  be  done  to  save  it 
from  bankruptcy.  The  solution  seemed  to  be  in  making 
physical  connection  with  the  other  roads  entering  Rich- 
mond and  Petersburg.  This  was  done  in  1867. 

For  a  few  months  beginning  with  June  1,  1873,  the  road 
was  run  with  the  Petersburg  under  one  management,  and 
was  known  as  the  Petersburg  and  Weldon  Railroad.  All 
officers  and  employees,  except  road  and  section  hands, 
performed  duties  for  and  were  paid  by  the  two  companies, 
one  third  by  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  and  two  thirds 
by  the  Petersburg.  In  1885  a  cooperative  arrangement  was 
made  with  the  Petersburg  whereby  the  workshops  of  the 
Richmond  and  Petersburg  were  devoted  to  repairs  of 
machinery  for  both  companies,  and  those  of  the  Peters- 
burg to  repairs  of  the  cars  of  both.  By  this  time  cut-throat 
competition  had  ceased  to  be  practiced  to  any  great 
extent. 

1  Report  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  No- 
vember 27,  1866. 

2  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1865-66,  ch.  218,  p.  336. 


106       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

The  Petersburg  Railroad 

The  history  of  the  Petersburg  during  the  war  was  much 
the  same  as  that  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg.  Con- 
stant use,  excessive  loading  of  cars,  abuse  of  rolling  stock 
by  Confederate  troops,  and  lack  of  time,  material,  and 
men  for  repair  played  a  far  more  important  part  in  its 
undoing  than  the  destruction  wrought  by  the  enemy.  The 
successful  blockade  of  southern  ports  cut  off  supplies 
with  which  to  repair  the  road.  This,  combined  with  a 
number  of  attacks  near  the  end  of  hostilities,  made  use  of 
the  road  almost  impossible.  With  the  main  line  of  com- 
munication between  the  southern  and  northern  parts  of 
the  Confederacy  cut,  the  end  soon  came. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  income  and  expense  only, 
there  never  was  a  more  prosperous  period  for  the  railroads 
than  the  first  two  years  of  the  war.  The  equipment  was  in 
such  good  condition  that  it  was  possible  to  run  with  little 
attention  to  upkeep.  The  Petersburg  Company  had  on 
hand  a  large  supply  of  material  which  it  had  bought  just 
before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  The  ordinary  channels 
which  had  supplied  the  business  of  the  road  were  utterly 
deranged  by  the  war.  Receipts  from  leading  articles  showed 
a  great  falling  off,  but  other  business  developed  by  the  war 
gave  rise  to  new  sources  of  income. 

It  was  predicted  by  the  officials  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war  that  the  receipts  both  from  travel  and  from  trade 
would  be  reduced  because  of  the  "uncertain  prospect  of 
public  affairs."1  This  prophecy  was  not  fulfilled.  The  re- 
ceipts from  passenger  traffic  in  1861  amounted  to  $113,470, 
from  freight  $141,402,  from  troops  and  horses  for  the 
government  $96,880,  from  mails  $13,083,  from  express 
$9689,  making  a  total  of  $374,526.  This  was  $45,000  more 
than  had  ever  been  received  by  the  road  from  all  sources.2 

1  Report  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  March  1,  1861. 

2  Ibid.,  February  20,  1862. 


THE  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD  107 

The  large  increase  in  gross  receipts  is  no  indication  of  the 
extent  of  the  increase  in  the  amount  of  business  done,  for 
the  rates  granted  to  the  Confederate  government  and  to 
the  various  state  governments  were  greatly  reduced.  The 
sudden  increase  in  business  taxed  the  road  to  its  capacity. 

Dissatisfaction  having  arisen  among  the  railroads  as  to 
freight  and  passenger  rates,  a  convention  of  all  southern 
railroads  was  held  in  Chattanooga  on  October  4,  1861, 
and  the  following  uniform  rate  schedule  was  adopted: 
freight,  first  class,  ammunition,  $.45  per  100  pounds 
per  100  miles;  second  class,  all  freight  shipped  for  govern- 
ment except  live  stock,  $.20  per  100  pounds  per  100  miles; 
third  class,  five  stock,  $20  per  car  load  per  100  miles; 
fourth  class,  hay  and  bran,  $15  per  car  load  per  100  miles; 
troops,  two  cents  per  mile;  mail,  $150  per  mile  per  year.  It 
was  agreed  by  the  Confederate  government  that  in  charg- 
ing according  to  the  above  schedule  the  fractional  part 
of  100  miles  should  be  considered  as  100;  by  the  railroad 
companies  that  they  would  receive  in  payment  for  their 
services  treasury  notes  or  bonds  of  the  government.1 

This  agreement  was  carried  out  until  July,  1862,  when 
all  rates  were  raised  25  per  cent.  The  increase  of  rates, 
together  with  the  fact  that  Confederate  currency  was  de- 
preciating, increased  the  gross  receipts  of  the  road  enor- 
mously. The  income  for  1862  was  $846,531  as  against 
$374,526  for  1861,  the  largest  income  of  the  road  up  to 
that  time.  The  expenses  for  1862  were  $234,746,  thus 
giving  the  unprecedentedly  low  operating  ratio  of  27J  per 
cent.2  It  would  have  been  far  better  for  the  road  if  its 
expenses  had  been  greater  and  it  would  have  gladly  in- 
creased them  had  it  been  possible  to  buy  material  for 
improvement.  By  the  spring  of  1862  the  surplus  material 
on  hand  in  1860  had  been  used  and  the  road  was  beginning 
to  feel  the  pinch  of  the  blockade.  As  the  blockade  tight- 

1  Report  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  February  20,  1862. 

2  Ibid.,  for  1863. 


108       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

ened,  it  became  more  and  more  difficult  to  get  the  needed 
supplies.  The  condition  of  the  road  grew  constantly  worse, 
but  the  real  cause  of  the  difficulty  was  not  admitted.  It 
was  complained  that  the  officers  of  the  government  were 
taking  cars  off  the  main  line  and  retaining  them  rather 
than  sending  them  back  immediately.  The  equipment, 
both  rolling  stock  and  track,  was  now  rapidly  deteriorating. 
The  greatest  need  was  for  iron  to  relay  the  track  which 
was  worn  out  by  constant  use  and  heavy  loads.  The  govern- 
ment was  using  practically  all  the  iron  in  the  manufacture 
of  munitions  and  left  little  for  the  repair  of  the  roads. 

The  misfortune  of  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke  was  again 
the  good  fortune  of  the  Petersburg.  When  Norfolk  was 
evacuated  the  former  had  no  further  use  for  its  rolling 
stock  and  was  glad  to  rent  it  to  the  Petersburg.  This  was 
done  and  for  a  time  relieved  the  necessity  of  the  Peters- 
burg. With  all  that  could  be  done,  however,  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  handle  the  traffic.  To  lengthen  the  life  of 
the  rails,  which  it  was  impossible  to  replace,  the  speed  of 
all  trains  was  cut  down.  In  many  cases  troops  were  hauled 
on  open  flat  cars,  on  platforms  of  passenger  cars,  and  even 
on  top  of  box  cars.1  Wounded  soldiers  were  carried  fre- 
quently on  box  cars,  and  temporary  windows  were  made 
by  knocking  out  the  upright  boards  which  supported  the 
top.  As  a  result  of  this  the  whole  upper  part  of  the  car  was 
soon  gone,  for  no  time  could  be  given  to  repair  the  damage. 

In  1864  the  condition  became  desperate.  Rates  were 
increased,  but  an  increase  in  rates  meant  little  when  the 
receipts  were  in  Confederate  money.  Receipts  for  1863 
were  over  $1,000,000,  for  1865  nearly  $2,000,000.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  war  rolling  stock  became  so  scarce  that 
the  cars  were  in  constant  use,  and  no  time  was  given  to 
clean  them,  to  say  nothing  of  making  repairs.  Passenger 
cars  were  taken  off  the  Petersburg  and  used  on  other  roads; 
when  finally  returned  the  seats  were  frequently  broken, 
1  Report  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  for  1863. 


THE  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD  109 

and  cushions,  stoves,  lamps,  dippers,  water-coolers  were 
all  carried  off  by  the  soldiers  for  private  use.  It  was  stated 
by  an  officer  of  the  company  that  more  harm  was  done  a 
car  on  one  of  these  trips  than  came  from  a  whole  year's 
use  before  the  war.1  In  order  to  accommodate  the  great 
crowds  of  soldiers  the  ordinary  water-coolers  in  use  earlier 
in  the  history  of  the  road  were  replaced  by  large  casks. 
Soldiers  would  not  take  time  to  use  the  casks,  but  dipped 
their  canteens  into  the  top,  and  as  a  result  the  water  soon 
became  too  dirty  to  use.  Passengers  then  emptied  the 
water,  inverted  the  casks  for  seats,  and  the  servants  were 
not  allowed  to  refill  them  during  the  remainder  of  the  trip. 
The  condition  became  so  serious  that  attempts  were  made 
to  run  the  blockade  with  cotton  to  be  exchanged  for  much- 
needed  supplies.  A  few  of  these  attempts  were  successful 
and  some  supplies  came  in,  but  not  enough  to  be  of  any 
great  benefit. 

Up  to  the  summer  of  1864  the  Confederate  army  was 
able  to  protect  its  north  and  south  fine  of  communication 
from  the  attack  of  the  enemy.  The  difficulties  which  the 
road  met  came  from  sheer  inability  to  repair  the  deterio- 
ration caused  by  excessively  heavy  traffic  and  abuse  at  the 
hands  of  its  friends.  In  May  of  this  year  the  Confederates 
were  no  longer  able  to  ward  off  attacks;  and  on  the  6th  of 
the  month  the  Federal  forces  reached  the  line  at  Stony 
Creek,  burned  the  bridges,  cars,  and  buildings  and  tore 
up  a  mile  and  a  half  of  track.  This  damage  was  repaired 
as  soon  as  possible  and  trains  resumed  their  regular  trips 
on  May  19.  Another  attack  was  made  on  June  21.  The 
cavalry  divided  into  parties  and  tore  up  the  track  at  a 
number  of  points.  At  the  same  time  the  infantry  tore  up 
about  four  miles.  Repairs  were  again  made  and  trains  ran 
as  usual  till  August  17  when  the  enemy  got  possession  of 
the  whole  northern  end  of  the  line.  Again  in  December 
attacks  were  made  farther  south,  and  thirty-two  miles, 

1  Report  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  January,  1864. 


110       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

more  than  half  of  the  road,  were  entirely  destroyed.  Trains 
continued  to  run  on  that  part  of  the  road  just  north  of 
Weldon  for  the  benefit  of  the  Confederate  government. 
When  Petersburg  was  evacuated  in  April,  1865,  all  the 
rolling  stock  was  carried  to  the  south  side  of  the  Roanoke 
River;  and  when  it  seemed  that  the  bridge  at  Weldon  and 
the  rolling  stock  collected  there  would  be  burned,  the  cars 
and  engines  were  all  floated  across  to  the  north  side  of  the 
Roanoke  at  Gaston.  The  collapse  was  complete. 

In  June  after  Lee's  surrender  the  road  was  turned  over 
to  the  company  by  the  Federal  government  and  the  tre- 
mendous task  of  reconstructing  it  was  begun.1  The  com- 
pany as  such  had  no  credit  and  the  only  way  it  could 
secure  funds  was  on  the  individual  security  of  its  various 
stockholders.  The  Adams  and  Southern  Express  Com- 
panies loaned  $70,000  which  the  road  was  to  repay  within 
four  years  by  hauling  packages  and  freight  for  them  at  a 
reasonable  rate.  Squads  of  workmen  were  put  on  the  road 
at  both  ends  in  July,  and  by  the  middle  of  August  it  was 
possible  for  trains  to  pass  over  the  whole  length  of  the  line. 
Yet  it  was  in  a  very  poor  condition  owing  to  the  fact  that 
it  was  impossible  to  make  old  rails  which  had  been  straight- 
ened he  so  as  to  form  a  level  track.  The  repairing  of  the 
track  was  only  one  of  the  difficulties  which  had  to  be  met. 
The  financial  situation  was  even  more  serious  and  never 
improved  until  the  road  underwent  a  reorganization. 

n 

The  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad 

The  spirit  with  which  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon 
officials  entered  into  the  war  is  set  forth  by  President  Ashe 
in  his  Report  of  November  14,  1861.  He  has  the  "gratifi- 
cation of  feeling  just  and  patriotic  pride  that  the  company 
has  been  able  to  render  to  our  beloved  country  inappreci- 
1  Report  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  January  1,  1866. 


THE  WILMINGTON  AND  WELDON  RAILROAD     111 

able  assistance  in  repelling  from  our  soil  ruthless  invaders." 
This  was  much  the  same  feeling  that  all  railroad  officials 
had  at  the  beginning  of  the  conflict,  while  their  roads  had 
supplies  and  while  the  increased  incomes  were  paid  in  a 
currency  which  had  not  yet  depreciated.  During  the  first 
year  of  the  war  there  was  a  great  increase  in  through  travel 
over  the  line  due  to  transportation  of  soldiers.  This  branch 
of  the  traffic  was  much  heavier  than  the  reports  indicate, 
for  owing  to  the  lack  of  system  in  the  Quartermaster's 
Department  of  the  state  many  troops  were  carried  for 
whom  no  pay  was  received.1 

When  once  the  pinch  of  the  blockade  began  to  be  felt, 
there  was  constant  friction  between  the  Confederate  mili- 
tary authorities  and  the  road  because  the  former  insisted 
on  breaking  up  the  regular  schedule  of  trains  and  running 
them  to  suit  their  own  convenience.  This  was  no  doubt 
necessary,  but  was  a  constant  source  of  complaint  on  the 
part  of  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon.  Just  before  the  fall 
of  Fort  Hatteras,  at  the  request  of  the  Committee  of 
Safety  of  Wilmington,  Fremont  was  appointed  Chief  of 
Corps  of  State  Artillery  and  Engineers.  The  general  com- 
manding in  the  state  assigned  him  to  duty  as  the  Chief 
Engineer  of  Coast  Defenses  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
state.  One  of  his  duties  was  the  superintending  of  the 
Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad.  Although  appointed 
by  the  Confederate  government,  he  complained  that  his 
work  was  interfered  with  by  the  military  authorities,  and 
that  if  the  officers  commanding  troops  could  for  a  moment 
appreciate  the  responsibility  they  assumed  and  the  risk 
they  took  of  crippling  the  operations  of  the  government, 
as  well  as  the  extreme  danger  to  life  incurred  by  interfer- 
ing with  the  regular  running  of  trains,  they  would  cer- 
tainly leave  that  duty  to  the  officers  of  the  companies  to 
whom  it  properly  belonged. 

Throughout   the   whole   four   years   there   was    little 

1  Report  of  Engineer  and  Superintendent  Fremont,  1861,  included  in 
Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  Nov.  14,  1861. 


112       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

harmony  between  the  road  and  the  army  officials.  In  a 
letter  dated  February  16,  1863,  from  Goldsboro,  Major 
General  S.  G.  French  wrote  Governor  Vance  that  there 
were  a  number  of  idle  cars  both  loaded  and  empty  there, 
and  if  this  system  or  what  he  termed  lack  of  system  con- 
tinued, it  would  be  a  difficult  matter  to  concentrate  troops 
if  that  should  become  necessary.1  The  following  telegram 
from  General  Lee  to  Governor  Vance  dated  December  28, 
1864,  shows  the  same  dissatisfaction.2 

I  beg  leave  to  call  the  attention  of  your  Excellency  to  the  great 
danger  we  incur  from  the  condition  and  management  of  our  rail- 
roads, with  the  hope  that  you  may  be  able  to  remove  some  of  the 
difficulties  under  which  we  labor. 

Examples  of  delays  causing  great  danger  to  troops, 
separation  of  brigades,  transfer  of  troops  from  one  road 
to  another  even  when  of  same  gauge  are  given: 

I  trust  your  Excellency  will  endeavor  to  ascertain  what  can  be 
done  to  facilitate  transportation  by  rail  and  give  all  the  assist- 
ance in  your  power.  The  delay  is  not  only  dangerous  and  injurious 
but  has  given  rise  to  painful  suspicions  which  in  justice  to  those 
connected  with  the  management  of  the  roads  should  be  removed. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  other  roads  in  the  Atlantic  north 
and  south  line,  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  soon  began 
to  feel  the  need  for  iron.  The  blockade  runners  at  Wilming- 
ton, the  most  successful  along  the  coast,  brought  in  a 
considerable  amount,  but  the  government  claimed  the 
specified  tonnage  of  each  vessel  and  appropriated  that 
brought  in  to  its  own  use  in  making  munitions.3  Another 
complaint  of  the  road  against  the  government  was  that  it 
had  not  received  a  single  car  or  engine  from  those  cap- 
tured, though  the  neighboring  roads  had.4  Nevertheless, 

1  Letter  in  Vance  Letter  File,  North  Carolina  Historical  Commission. 

2  Copy  of  telegram  in  Vance  Letter  File,  North  Carolina  Historical 
Commission. 

3  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  Novem- 
ber 18,  18G3. 

4  Ibid.,  December  14,  18G2. 


THE  WILMINGTON  AND  WELDON  RAILROAD     113 

it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  the  government  would  allow 
its  main  artery  of  communication  to  suffer  any  more  than 
was  unavoidable.  The  road  was  furnished  iron  which  was 
taken  up  from  other  lines.  The  old  rails  were  turned  over 
to  the  government  as  they  were  worn  out  in  exchange  for 
rails  taken  up  from  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  and  the 
Atlantic  and  North  Carolina  Railroad.1  The  Wilmington, 
Charlotte,  and  Rutherford  was  entirely  dismantled  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  main  food  supply  of  Wilming- 
ton came  over  this  road.2  When  the  Wilmington  and  Wel- 
don  learned  of  the  possibility,  it  immediately  applied  to 
Governor  Vance  asking  for  some  of  the  rails.  Wrhile  there 
is  no  record  of  the  request  having  been  complied  with,  it 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  most  important  line  in 
the  state  received  its  share. 

The  Report  of  December  14,  1862,  congratulated  the 
company  that  its  road  so  far  had  been  free  from  the  in- 
cursions of  the  enemy.  This  cause  for  congratulation  was 
removed  two  days  later  when  the  enemy  attacked  the  road, 
burned  the  bridge  over  the  Neuse  River,  the  trestlework 
at  Goshen,  the  water  station  and  a  number  of  cars  at 
Dudley's  Station.3  Up  to  the  fall  of  1863,  it  was  estimated 
that  the  loss  sustained  had  been  about  $100,000.  From 
this  time  on  for  the  remainder  of  hostilities,  the  road  was 
the  prey  of  both  friend  and  enemy.  The  enormous  income 
for  two  years  enabled  the  company  to  declare  three  divi- 
dends during  1863  amounting  in  all  to  31  per  cent.  It  was 
specifically  stated  that  this,  owing  to  the  depreciated 
state  of  the  currency,  was  really  no  better  than  in  former 
years.  The  dividends  would  have  been  even  greater  but 

1  Letter  of  Fremont,  December  26,  1863,  to  Colonel  George  Little, 
aide-de-camp,  Raleigh,  Vance  Letter  File,  North  Carolina  Historical 
Commission. 

2  Letter  of  Mayor  of  Wilmington  to  President  of  Wilmington,  Co- 
lumbia, and  Augusta  Railroad  Company,  Vance  Letter  File,  North  Car- 
olina Historical  Commission. 

8  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  Novem- 
ber 18,  1863. 


114       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

for  $86,486  in  taxes  levied  by  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment. The  levy  was  claimed  by  the  company  to  be  illegal 
according  to  the  terms  of  the  charter,  and  the  president 
was  directed  not  to  pay  taxes  thereafter  either  to  the 
Confederate  government  or  to  the  state  of  North  Caro- 
lina.1 

By  the  summer  of  1864  the  condition  of  the  road  was 
alarming.  Its  rails  were  wearing  out  and  no  material  for 
repair  could  be  secured.  The  rolling  stock  was  taxed 
severely  and  it  was  impossible  to  get  labor  except  of  an 
inferior  class.  The  continued  depreciation  in  the  currency 
increased  the  cost  of  living  enormously,  while  the  salaries 
of  the  officials  and  wages  of  employees  had  not  been 
raised  in  proportion.  To  ease  the  situation  the  salary  of 
the  president  was  placed  at  $8000  and  that  of  the  treas- 
urer at  $6000  in  the  fall  of  this  year.  The  stockholders 
ordered  an  increase  in  wages  aggregating  $26,496,  but  this 
was  insignificant  when  the  rise  in  prices  is  taken  into  con- 
sideration. In  April,  1861,  machinists  were  receiving  $2.50 
per  day  and  were  paying  from  $18  to  $20  per  month  for 
board.  Flour  sold  at  Wilmington  at  $6  a  barrel,  meat  at 
10  to  12  cents  a  pound.  The  company  was  paying  $1  a 
gallon  for  oil  and  4  cents  a  pound  for  its  iron  and  nails.  In 
April,  1864,  the  same  machinists  received  from  $12  to  $20 
per  day  and  paid  from  $300  to  $360  a  month  for  board. 
Flour  was  selling  for  $350  a  barrel,  meat  at  from  $5  to  $6 
a  pound.  A  suit  of  clothes  could  not  be  bought  for  less  than 
$1000  or  $1500.  Oil  was  costing  the  company  $50  a  gallon, 
iron  from  $2  to  $3  a  pound,  nails  $4  a  pound.  Rents  in 
Wilmington  which  had  been  $400  to  $500  per  year  in  1861 
were  $8000  to  $10,000,  in  1864.  The  depreciation  became 
so  great  that  it  was  impossible  to  tell  from  the  books  any- 
thing whatever  about  the  financial  condition  of  the  com- 
pany. When  the  end  of  the  war  finally  came,  an  entirely 

1  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  November 
23,  1864. 


THE  WILMINGTON  AND  WELDON  RAILROAD     115 

new  set  was  opened  up  without  reference  to  the  old.  Under 
such  circumstances  it  was  but  natural  that  the  road  should 
ask  the  government  for  an  increase  in  rates  for  the  business 
done.  The  request  was  granted  and  the  rate  for  soldiers 
was  raised  to  five  cents  per  mile  in  May,  1864.  * 

It  was  evident  that  it  was  only  a  question  of  time  till 
the  road  would  have  to  cease  operation.  The  fall  of  Peters- 
burg and  the  occupation  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  by 
the  Federal  forces  made  that  part  of  the  Wilmington  and 
Weldon  north  of  Goldsboro  practically  useless  as  nothing 
passing  over  it  could  be  delivered  to  points  north  now  held 
by  Federal  troops.  All  trains  to  Weldon  except  one  mixed 
train  for  both  passengers  and  freight  were  taken  off.  Events 
during  the  latter  part  of  1864  and  the  beginning  of  1865 
moved  in  rapid  succession  and  the  road  was  damaged 
alternately  by  the  Federal  and  the  Confederate  armies. 
Wilmington  fell  on  February  22,  1865,  and  Goldsboro  a 
month  later,  and  operation  of  the  road  ceased  altogether. 
General  Bragg  in  withdrawing  from  Wilmington  destroyed 
the  bridges  between  Wilmington  and  Goldsboro  in  order 
to  cover  his  retreat.  The  section  of  the  road  south  of 
Goldsboro  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Federals  under  General 
Terry  on  March  19.  Temporary  bridges  were  built  by  the 
Railroad  Construction  Corps  of  the  United  States  Army, 
and  the  road  was  operated  by  the  Federal  authorities  until 
it  was  turned  over  to  the  company  after  the  cessation  of 
hostilities.2 

The  division  north  of  Goldsboro  suffered  even  worse. 
The  Confederates  practically  dismantled  it,  burning 
bridges  over  Fishing  Creek,  Quanky,  and  on  the  Tarboro 
Branch,  three  locomotives  and  twenty  cars,  warehouses  at 
Dudley's  and  at  Goldsboro.  Not  only  was  the  road  de- 
stroyed, but  the  company  found  itself  in  possession  of 

1  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  Novem- 
ber 23,  1864. 

2  Ibid.,  November  22,  1865. 


116       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

$1,500,000  of  worthless  Confederate  securities  purchased 
early  in  the  war.  When  peace  came  the  company  found 
much  of  its  track  destroyed,  nearly  all  of  its  bridges  and 
warehouses  burned.  It  resumed  operations  on  August  27, 
1865,  with  only  four  locomotives,  eleven  box  cars,  five 
platform  cars,  and  no  passenger  cars  fit  for  service.  Besides 
this  it  was  confronted  with  an  entirely  new  labor  situa- 
tion. The  negroes  whom  it  had  employed  heretofore  were 
not  now  available  and  the  white  labor  employed  did  not 
give  more  than  three  fourths  the  service  which  the  slaves 
had  formerly  given.  Altogether  the  company  was  con- 
fronted by  what  seemed  to  be  insuperable  difficulties. 

One  of  the  first  tasks  which  the  roads  undertook  after 
the  war  was  the  forming  of  physical  connections.  From 
the  beginning  it  had  been  necessary  to  haul  freight  and 
passengers  from  the  stations  of  the  Richmond  and  Peters- 
burg to  those  of  other  roads,  thus  causing  much  additional 
expense  in  the  handling  of  freight  and  inconvenience  to 
travelers.  It  was  evident  that  these  connections  must  be 
made  in  order  to  secure  the  patronage  of  the  public. 
There  were  two  ways  of  reaching  northern  points  from 
the  South  Atlantic  seaboard;  one  by  water,  the  other  by 
a  series  of  short  railroad  journeys  as  far  north  as  Fred- 
ericksburg, thence  by  stage  and  boat  to  Washington. 

Physical  Connections 

For  success  on  any  large  scale  a  railroad  must  be  able 
to  switch  freight  from  one  road  to  another  without  un- 
loading, and  to  carry  passengers  without  the  incon- 
venience of  frequent  change  of  cars. 

With  this  object  in  view,  two  companies  were  chartered 
at  the  1865-66  session  of  the  Virginia  legislature:  the 
Richmond  and  Petersburg  Connection  Company;  and  the 
Richmond  and  Petersburg,  and  Richmond,  Fredericks- 
burg, and  Potomac  Connection  Company. x  Only  under  the 
1  Acts  of  Virginia,  1865-66,  ch.  206,  p.  328. 


PHYSICAL  CONNECTIONS  117 

charter  of  the  latter  of  these  was  any  work  actually  done. 
This  company  was  given  permission  to  build  a  short  line 
of  road  connecting  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  with  the 
Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  Railroad.  The 
capital  was  $200,000,  and  this  might  be  purchased  by 
either  of  the  railroad  companies  at  a  fair  valuation,  not 
before  the  expiration  of  ten  years  nor  after  twenty.  Rates 
were  fixed  above  which  this  short  connecting  road  was 
not  allowed  to  charge.  These  were,  for  passengers  over 
the  line,  not  more  than  fifty  cents  per  man,  and  for 
freight,  five  cents  per  hundred  pounds  per  mile.  The 
line  was  built  and  leased  jointly  by  the  two  railroad 
companies,1  according  to  contracts  signed  on  August 
1,  1866,  and  April  1,  1867. 2  The  road  was  opened  in 
May,  1867.  The  two  railroad  companies  guaranteed  to 
the  stockholders  of  the  connection  company  an  annual 
rental  until  they  or  either  of  them  should  purchase  the 
right,  title,  estate,  and  franchise  of  the  connection  com- 
pany. By  resolution  of  the  railroad  companies,  it  was 
agreed  that  during  the  lease  freight  and  passenger  rates 
were  to  be  prescribed  by  them,  and  that  no  other  road 
should  be  allowed  to  make  a  junction  with  the  connecting 
line  without  their  consent.3  The  other  company  chartered 
at  the  same  time  was  not  organized.  Application  was  made 
by  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  in  August,  1866,  to  the 
common  council  of  the  town  of  Petersburg  for  aid  in  get- 
ting up  a  similar  company,  but  no  answer  was  ever  re- 
ceived from  this  body.4 

Permission  had  been  granted  to  the  Petersburg  Rail- 
road to  extend  its  fine  to  the  Appomattox  River,5  and  the 

1  Report  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  Septem- 
ber 30,  1867. 

2  Poor's  Manual,  1898,  p.  155. 

3  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  XL,  p.  576. 

4  Report  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  Septem- 
ber 30,  1866. 

6  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  XL,  p.  576. 


118       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

Richmond  and  Petersburg  now  asked  to  be  allowed  to 
extend  its  track  to  the  south  bank  of  the  Appomattox  and 
connect  with  the  Petersburg  at  that  point.  This  was 
granted  through  an  enabling  act  passed  by  the  Virginia 
legislature.  The  same  fares  and  freight  rates  were  pre- 
scribed as  obtained  on  the  connection  road  in  Richmond. 
This  act  provided  that  the  gross  receipts  were  to  be 
divided  into  two  equal  parts.  Three  fifths  of  one  part 
were  to  be  assigned  to  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company 
for  maintenance  and  operation  of  that  section  which  it 
should  build,  and  two  fifths  to  the  Richmond  and  Peters- 
burg for  the  same  purpose.  The  other  part  was  to  be 
divided  between  the  companies  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  spent  by  each  in  constructing  its  part  of  the  con- 
necting line.  The  building  of  this  short  line  between  the 
two  roads  necessitated  the  building  of  a  railroad  bridge 
over  the  Appomattox,  and  a  union  station.  The  work  was 
completed  and  the  first  train  was  run  over  the  fine  on 
August  20,  1867. x  Thus  the  railroads  running  between 
northern  and  southern  points  escaped  the  necessity  of 
having  to  transfer  passengers  and  baggage  through  the 
streets  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg  in  omnibuses  and 
wagons,  and  avoided  the  danger  of  losing  through  travel 
to  the  more  comfortable  lines. 

At  the  same  time  that  these  connections  were  being 
made  in  Richmond  and  in  Petersburg,  a  line  was  being 
built  from  Washington  to  Brook's  Station,  on  the  Rich- 
mond, Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac,  and  a  bridge  was 
being  constructed  over  the  Cape  Fear  River  at  Wilming- 
ton.2 This  bridge  was  built  by  the  Wilmington  Railway 
Bridge  Company,  chartered  in  June,  1866. 3  The  stock  of 
the  company  was  owned  jointly  by  the  Wilmington  and 
Weldon,  the  Wilmington  and  Manchester,  and  the  Wil- 

1  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xli,  p.  974. 

2  Ibid  ,  vol.  xl,  p.  576. 

3  Ordinances  of  North  Carolina,  1865-66,  ch.  31. 


COMPETITION  119 

mington,  Columbia,  and  Rutherford,  now  the  Seaboard 
Air  Line.  The  bridge  with  a  few  miles  of  road  established 
the  connection  of  these  three  companies  at  Wilmington. 
From  that  time  up  to  the  present  the  bridge  has  been  con- 
trolled through  stock  ownership  by  the  three  companies 
and  their  successors.  The  closing  of  these  gaps  made  con- 
tinuous and  comfortable  travel  between  New  York  and 
the  South  possible. 

These  connections,  which  made  possible  the  running  of 
through  passenger  and  freight  trains,  increased  the  traffic. 
New  industries  grew  up  along  the  lines,  especially  truck 
farming  in  North  Carolina.  The  Wilmington  and  Weldon 
was  in  a  position  to  profit  greatly  from  the  increase. 

Competition 

The  Petersburg  was  still  subject  to  competition  at 
Weldon  with  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke.  Much  of  the 
traffic  brought  up  by  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  went 
over  the  latter  to  Norfolk  and  was  shipped  from  there 
north.  The  Wilmington  and  Weldon  handled  all  the  traffic 
originating  in  the  Wilmington  section  of  North  Carolina 
and  going  north,  regardless  of  its  direction  after  leaving 
Weldon.  The  Petersburg,  on  the  other  hand,  handled  only 
that  part  which  did  not  go  over  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke. 

The  Richmond  and  Petersburg  received  no  larger  share  of 
traffic  originating  in  the  South  than  did  the  Petersburg, 
but  the  former  was  not  dependent  on  this  traffic  for  its 
existence,  while  the  latter  was.  The  Richmond  and  Peters- 
burg still  had  its  coal  business  from  the  Clover  Hill  Branch 
to  fall  back  on.  Moreover,  it  had  a  monopoly  of  the 
passenger  traffic  between  Richmond  and  Petersburg  and 
charged  a  fare  of  two  to  six  cents  per  mile.  It  could  there- 
fore make  expenses  even  if  no  connections  had  been 
made.  In  fact  1867  was  the  most  prosperous  year  the  road 
had  had  up  to  that  time,  although  the  connections  were 
not  completed  until  the  fall  of  that  year.    The   gross 


120       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

earnings  for  the  year  were  $136,456;  its  expenses  $82,633, 
leaving  a  net  revenue  of  $53,823.  The  next  year  the  net 
revenue  increased  to  $58,101,  the  largest  of  any  year  up  to 
1875. x  Thus  the  recovery  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg 
was  rapid. 

The  Petersburg,  almost  wholly  dependent  on  traffic 
which  it  received  from  other  roads,  recovered  slowly.  The 
country  through  which  it  ran  was  poor,  crops  light,  and 
few  manufactures  were  in  existence  along  its  line.  It  came 
out  of  the  Civil  War  badly  crippled  and  struggled  along 
against  competition  with  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke. 
Moreover,  it  was  poorly  managed  and  reports  even  gained 
circulation  that  it  was  dishonestly  managed.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  was  impossible  to  avoid  a  reorganization. 
On  May  10,  1877,  it  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver 
upon  a  motion  made  in  the  United  States  Court  at  Nor- 
folk.2 Pending  reorganization  it  was  operated  for  four 
years  by  a  receiver  appointed  by  the  court,  with  the  usual 
amount  of  wrangling  among  the  various  classes  of  security 
holders. 

A  movement  was  reported  in  1878  by  which  the  second 
mortgage  bondholders  intended  to  buy  the  road  at  fore- 
closure and  form  a  new  management.3  Matters  drifted  on, 
however,  and  the  stockholders  and  bondholders  seemed  to 
be  no  nearer  an  agreement  than  they  had  been  at  first. 
Consequently  Judge  Hughes,  of  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court  of  the  Eastern  Division  of  Virginia,  issued  an  order 
in  1880  allowing  until  January,  1881,  for  the  redemption 
of  the  company.4  The  court  directed  that  unless  such  an 
agreement  was  reached  by  that  time,  the  road  should  be 
advertised  and  sold  for  $60,000,  and  that  the  purchasers 
should  deposit  $10,000  as  a  pledge  of  good  faith.  In  case  of 
sale  thirty  days  were  to  be  allowed  for  exceptions,  where- 

1  See  Appendix,  Table  VII. 

2  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  XXIV,  p.  445. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  xxvi,  p.  523. 

4  Ibid.,  vol.  xxxi,  p.  306. 


REORGANIZATION  OF  PETERSBURG  RAILROAD    121 

upon,  if  the  sale  were  confirmed,  the  road  was  to  be  turned 
over  to  the  purchasers.  No  agreement  was  reached  by  the 
creditors  and  the  court  advertised  the  road  for  sale,  sub- 
ject to  a  $500,000  mortgage.1  The  sale  was  to  take  place 
in  Petersburg  on  April  20,  1881,  to  satisfy  a  mortgage  of 
May  1,  1872.  Those  interested  in  the  road  now  realized 
that  something  must  be  done  if  they  would  save  it.  They 
got  together,  reached  an  agreement  and  petitioned  the 
court  that  the  date  of  the  sale  be  postponed.  The  peti- 
tion was  granted  and  the  date  of  sale  set  for  May  20, 
1881. 2  The  second  bondholders  then  presented  a  plan 
whereby  the  sale  might  be  averted.3  A  pool  committee 
purchased  all  the  outstanding  second  mortgage  bonds. 
This  committee  also  held  7645  shares  of  the  capital  stock. 
The  scheme  provided  for  the  payment  in  full  of  the  inter- 
est due  on  the  first  mortgage,  and  for  the  funding  of  a  part 
due  on  the  second  mortgage  bonds.  The  plan  was  unani- 
mously adopted  by  the  bondholders,  and  the  road  was  by 
order  of  the  court  restored  to  the  stockholders,  and  the 
receiver,  Mr.  G.  G.  Pegram,  was  dismissed  on  May  9, 
1881.4 

The  load  under  which  the  company  had  been  struggling 
may  be  seen  from  the  financial  statement  of  September  30, 
1880:5  capital  stock,  $1,324,200;  funded  debt,  $1,041,000; 
coupons  and  unpaid  interest,  $312,840;  floating  debt, 
$133,383;  cost  and  equipment  of  road,  $1,035,750.  The 
funded  debt  consisted  of  $500,000  8  per  cent  first  mort- 
gage bonds  dated  January  1,  1869,  due  1879;  $487,500 
8  per  cent  second  mortgage  thirty-year  bonds  due  May  1, 
1902;  $53,500  8  per  cent  third  mortgage  ten-year  bonds 
due  1885.  Both  the  earnings  and  expenses  of  the  road 
were  considerably  increased,  but  the  operating  ratio  was 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xxxir,  p.  232. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  xxxii,  p.  444.  3  Baltimore  Sun,  May  3,  1881. 
4  Poor's  Manual,  1881,  p.  360. 

6  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xxxiv,  p.  377. 


122        THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

materially  lowered  during  the  years  the  road  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  receiver.1 

With  the  physical  connection  of  all  the  roads  completed, 
so  that  through  trains  might  run  from  Wilmington  to  New 
York,  with  the  Petersburg  reorganized  and  placed  on  a 
firm  financial  basis,  with  the  ravages  of  the  Civil  War 
largely  repaired,  a  new  era  was  ushered  in.  The  handling 
of  freight  became  far  more  important  than  it  had  ever 
been  before.  Cotton  continued  to  be  the  chief  bulky  com- 
modity handled.  The  naval  stores  business  was  declin- 
ing and  shifting  to  the  Southwest.  The  time  was  ripe  for 
the  introduction  of  a  new  industry  which  would  furnish 
sufficient  business  for  the  improved  facilities.  The  grow- 
ing of  garden  truck  and  fruit  offered  the  opportunity. 

This  industry  in  North  Carolina  was  an  extension  of 
what  had  been  started  before  the  Civil  War  around 
Norfolk.  The  so-called  "winter  garden,"  which  supplies 
the  northeastern  states  with  fresh  vegetables  demanded 
during  the  late  winter  and  early  spring  months,  is  a  narrow 
belt  stretching  along  the  Atlantic  Coast  from  near  Sa- 
vannah, Georgia,  to  the  southern  portion  of  New  Jersey.2 
The  soil  of  this  strip  is  for  the  most  part  what  geologists 
have  named  the  Norfolk  fine  sandy  loam,  and  is  admirably 
adapted  to  the  raising  of  early  vegetables.  It  is  estimated 
that  of  the  total  area  of  this  soil,  amounting  to  some 
20,000,000  acres,  not  one  tenth  of  one  per  cent  is  used 
even  now  for  truck  crop  production,  and  not  25  per  cent 
is  used  for  any  agricultural  purpose  aside  from  grazing.  So 
far  as  soil  is  concerned,  therefore,  the  truck-growing  in- 
dustry is  capable  of  wide  extension. 

But  soil  is  only  one  of  the  necessary  factors  in  the 
establishment  of  the  industry.  Transportation  is  equally 
important.  Not  only  must  the  truck  crops  be  grown  near  a 

1  See  Appendix,  Table  VIII. 

2  Jay  A.  Bonsteel,  "Truck  Soils  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Region,"  Year 
Book  of  U.S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  1912,  p.  417. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  NEW  BUSINESS  123 

primary  shipping  point,  but  the  railroad  must  be  able  to 
make  quick  delivery  of  products  to  the  place  of  con- 
sumption. This  the  Atlantic  lines  were  not  able  to  do 
before  the  connection  of  the  various  roads.  With  these 
connections  completed,  however,  the  business  began  to 
develop.  The  first  efforts  were  feeble  and  the  crops  lim- 
ited, but  when  once  a  start  was  made  the  growth  was 
rapid.  In  1868,  the  next  year  after  the  closing  of  the  gaps, 
1200  barrels  of  fruit  and  vegetables  were  shipped  from 
North  Carolina  to  northern  points.1  The  work  of  carrying 
these  new  products  was  begun  in  April  and  continued  until 
October.  This  was  the  season  of  light  traffic  for  the  roads, 
and  almost  the  only  additional  expense  in  handling  the 
business  was  that  of  changing  the  cars  so  as  to  give  proper 
ventilation.  The  income  to  the  road  the  first  year  was  only 
about  $6000.  The  new  industry  brought  into  the  state 
and  distributed  among  the  growers  over  $100,000.  This 
was  sufficient  encouragement  to  induce  many  farmers  to 
turn  their  attention  away  from  the  staple  crops  to  truck 
gardening. 

The  railroads  were  quick  to  see  that  in  this  field  they 
had  a  great  opportunity  to  develop  a  profitable  business  if 
only  they  could  give  speedy  delivery  of  the  perishable 
crops.  The  roads  were  not  slow  to  improve  their  natural 
advantages.  The  Wilmington  district  is  able  to  mature  its 
crops  twenty- two  days  on  the  average  earlier  than  the 
older  district  around  Norfolk.  But  to  profit  from  the  in- 
dustry absolute  harmony  among  the  north  and  south  lines 
was  necessary.  This  was  one  characteristic  which  the 
roads  had  never  shown.  Their  efficiency  had  always  been 
impaired  by  a  want  of  harmony  on  the  part  of  the  different 
managements.2  Made  up  of  short  lines,  projected  to  serve 
local  purposes,  the  managements  had  been  subordinated 

1  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  November 
11,  1868. 

2  Ibid.,  November  16,  1870. 


124       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

to  local  policies  and  prejudices  greatly  to  the  detriment  of 
through  business  and  to  the  hindrance  of  increased  re- 
ceipts. In  the  marketing  of  the  products  of  the  North 
Carolina  truck  farms  they  at  last  found  a  common  interest. 
After  handling  the  business  as  best  they  could  for 
nearly  twenty  years  as  separate  lines,  all  the  roads  form- 
ing a  connection  between  the  North  Carolina  and  the  large 
eastern  seaboard  cities  entered  into  a  contract  and  estab- 
lished what  has  since  that  time  been  known  as  the  "At- 
lantic Coast  Despatch."  The  contract  was  signed  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad,  the  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
Norfolk  Railroad,  and  the  lines  which  have  since  gone 
into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  System.  All-rail  connection 
was  thus  established  with  the  northern  markets  both  by 
way  of  Washington  and  through  Portsmouth.  The  Atlantic 
Coast  Despatch  was  equipped  with  special  fruit  and  vege- 
table cars  built  by  the  shops  of  the  Wilmington  and 
Weldon  Road.  The  expenses  of  operation  were  shared  in 
proportion  to  the  mileage  of  the  contracting  lines.1  The 
Pennsylvania  Road  was  to  furnish  thirty  cars  and  the 
Atlantic  lines  seventy.  Three  fourths  of  a  cent  per  mile 
was  to  be  paid  to  the  owner  by  that  company  using  the 
car.  The  two  routes,  that  passing  through  Richmond  and 
Alexandria  and  that  passing  through  Cape  Charles  and 
Portsmouth,  were  to  be  treated  alike.  A  system  of  rates 
per  hundred  pounds  to  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New 
York,  from  eight  cents  in  the  first  class  to  two  cents  in 
the  sixth  higher  than  through  rates  from  and  to  the  same 
points,  fixed  by  the  Atlantic  lines  in  conjunction  with  their 
water  connections  was  agreed  upon.  A  similar  arrange- 
ment was  made  for  Boston  and  Providence  with  higher 
differential  rates.2 

1  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  Novem- 
ber 23,  1887. 

2  Atlantic  Coast  Despatch  Contract,  dated  August  1,  1887.  In  vault 
of  Treasurer's  office  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  Wil- 
mington, N.C. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  NEW  BUSINESS  125 

These  new  facilities  developed  a  north-bound  move- 
ment of  early  vegetables  and  fruits  "even  beyond  the 
expectations  of  the  most  sanguine."  *  Nor  did  the  develop- 
ment of  this  new  business  seriously  affect  the  old  staple 
crop,  for  in  most  cases  the  vegetables  are  planted  early 
and  between  the  rows  of  cotton.  The  early  vegetables 
mature  and  are  gathered  before  the  cotton  has  grown  to 
sufficient  height  to  interfere  with  them.  Some  land  near 
the  lines  which  had  formerly  been  planted  to  cotton  was 
now  given  up  entirely  to  vegetables  and  fruits,  but  not 
enough  to  lessen  materially  the  cotton  yield.  The  extent 
to  which  the  truck  business  had  now  grown  may  be  seen 
by  the  number  of  cars  put  into  service.  The  first  year 
following  the  contract  23  fruit  and  vegetable  cars  were 
built  for  the  Petersburg,  8  for  the  Richmond  and  Peters- 
burg, 13  for  the  Northeastern  of  South  Carolina,  and  50 
for  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  itself.  The  rapid  growth 
of  the  industry  soon  made  it  impossible  for  the  Wilmington 
and  Weldon  shops  to  furnish  a  sufficient  number  of  cars 
to  handle  the  business,  and  the  second  year  of  the  contract 
the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  alone  bought  300  new  cars 
from  a  Baltimore  manufacturing  concern.2 

It  was  found  that  other  crops  could  be  raised  besides 
lettuce  and  Irish  potatoes,  which  had  been  the  chief  pro- 
ducts of  the  Wilmington  section.  Almost  by  accident  it 
was  discovered  that  the  soil  was  peculiarly  suited  to 
strawberries.  About  1890  two  farmers  living  at  Rocky 
Point  and  Faison  planted  small  beds  for  their  own  use. 
The  yield  was  such  that  they  decided  to  express  a  few 
crates  to  Richmond,  Washington,  and  Baltimore.  The 
fruit  was  so  good  that  they  received  exceedingly  high 
prices  for  the  few  crates  and  decided  to  grow  the  next 
year  for  the  market.  From  this  small  beginning  there  has 
developed  the  greatest  strawberry  section  in  the  United 

1  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  1888. 

2  Ibid.,  1890. 


126       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

States.  It  soon  became  evident  that  the  express  company 
could  not  handle  the  business.  The  Atlantic  Coast  Des- 
patch was  not  suited  to  this  delicate  fruit  and  the  Atlantic 
Coast  Line  introduced  the  refrigerator  car.  Cars  were 
secured  from  the  California  Fruit  Growers  Express,  popu- 
larly known  to  the  strawberry  raisers  as  the  "C.F.X." 
The  facilities  of  the  company  were  inadequate  for  the 
undertaking  and  it  was  necessary  to  secure  the  services 
of  another  of  the  great  car  line  companies,  the  Armour 
Car  Lines.  The  following,  taken  from  the  contract  be- 
tween the  Armour  Car  Lines  and  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line, 
will  serve  to  show  the  relations  between  the  two : 

It  [the  Atlantic  Coast  Line]  will,  through  its  accounting  de- 
partment, pay  to  the  Car  Line  as  soon  as  accounts  can  be  made 
up  after  the  end  of  each  month  all  moneys  earned  by  the  Car  Line 
for  furnishing  it  refrigeration  and  handling  generally  under  its 
supervision  the  business  moving  from  its  rails  during  the  preced- 
ing month,  at  the  rates  named  by  the  Car  Line  and  not  exceeding 
the  maximum  hereinbefore  provided,  together  with  any  local 
cold  storage  charges  in  connection  with  such  business  as  herein- 
before provided.  It  being  understood  that  failure  to  collect  from 
shipper  or  consignee  after  due  diligence  the  refrigeration  charges 
referred  to  in  this  contract,  the  Railroad  Company  will  be  relieved 
from  same,  provided  that  in  the  event  part  of  the  rates  for  trans- 
portation or  refrigeration  or  both  is  collected,  the  Railroad  Com- 
pany will  pay  to  the  Car  Line  its  pro-rata  proportion,  on  revenue 
basis,  of  charges  so  collected.  It  will  also  pay  to  the  Car  Line  for 
the  use  of  said  cars  f  of  one  cent  per  mile  run  on  the  lines  of  the 
railroad  both  loaded  and  empty;  the  Car  Line  to  collect  direct 
from  connections  the  usual  mileage  earned  by  its  cars  beyond  the 
rails  of  the  Railroad.1 

With  these  adequate  facilities  and  a  permanent  means 
of  transportation,  strawberry  growing  increased  by  leaps 
and  bounds.  The  thickly  populated  section  between  Rich' 

1  Contract  between  the  Armour  Car  Lines  Company  and  the  Atlan- 
tic Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  dated  October  17,  1906.  In  Treas- 
urer's office,  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  Wilmington, 
North  Carolina.  The  contract  from  which  this  is  an  excerpt  superseded 
one  entered  into  in  1903. 


WILMINGTON,  COLUMBIA,  AND  AUGUSTA     127 

mond  and  Boston  was  the  chief  market,  though  shipments 
were  made  as  far  west  as  Chicago  and  even  into  Can- 
ada. The  sales  every  season  amount  to  from  $750,000  to 
$1,000,000,  which  added  to  the  income  from  vegetables  and 
fruit  crops  increase  greatly  the  prosperity  of  the  section.1 
While  the  truck  and  fruit  industry  in  the  North  Caro- 
lina section  was  growing  up,  the  naval  stores  center  was 
shifting  farther  to  the  south  into  South  Carolina  and 
Florida  and  was  handled  largely  by  the  roads  of  this  sec- 
tion which  became  integral  parts  of  the  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  System.  Physical  connection  between  the  Wilmington 
and  Weldon  and  the  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and  Augusta 
was  made  shortly  after  the  war.  There  was  still  one  very 
great  impediment  to  the  free  shipping  of  perishable  com- 
modities, the  difference  in  gauge  of  the  two  roads.  This 
necessitated  unloading  at  Wilmington.  The  difficulty  was 
not  removed  until  1886  when  the  gauge  of  the  Wilmington, 
Columbia,  and  Augusta  was  standardized.2  The  extension 
of  the  truck  industry  toward  the  south  was  one  of  the 
chief  reasons  for  making  the  improvement. 

m 

The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina  Group 

The  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and  Augusta  Railroad 

The  war  ruined  practically  all  of  the  railroads  in  the 
South  Carolina-Georgia  territory  and  the  growth  of  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  System  in  these  states  has  taken  place 
largely  since  1865. 

During  the  Civil  W7ar  the  Wilmington  and  Manchester, 
later  the  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and  Augusta,  suffered 
from  the  destruction  of  its  track  and  equipment  and  from 
the  inability  to  procure  the  necessary  materials  for  repair 

1  See  Appendix,  Table  IX. 

2  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  Novem- 
ber, 1885. 


128       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

and  reconstruction.  When  the  war  was  ended  the  earnings 
were  so  small  that  it  was  impossible  to  put  the  road  in 
proper  condition.  Legal  proceedings  were  commenced  and 
a  second  suit  of  foreclosure  was  brought  in  the  courts  of 
North  and  South  Carolina.1  The  road  was  consequently 
sold  on  January  5,  1870,  for  $525,000  cash  and  $1,975,828 
in  its  preferred  securities,2  and  was  reorganized  under  the 
name  Wilmington  and  Carolina.  For  purposes  of  reim- 
bursing the  cost  of  the  road  and  of  furnishing  means  to 
build  the  extension  to  Columbia  and  to  equip  thoroughly 
the  whole  line,  the  company  executed  a  first  mortgage  for 
$3,200,000  on  its  road  from  Wilmington  to  Columbia, 
together  with  all  its  personal  property,  real  estate,  and 
equipment.  It  was  estimated  that  when  the  road  should 
be  completed  to  Columbia,  the  entire  distance  being  about 
200  miles,  its  value  would  be  some  $4,500,000. 3  The  pur- 
chasers of  the  old  company  received  a  charter  in  March, 
1870,  from  the  legislatures  of  North  and  South  Carolina, 
incorporating  them  into  the  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and 
Augusta  Railroad  Company.  One  provision  of  the  charter 
was  that  the  capital  stock  was  not  to  exceed  $5,000,000. 
The  company  was  given  permission  to  build  a  road  from 
any  point  on  its  line  to  Columbia,  South  Carolina.4  This 
extension  was  opened  in  the  winter  of  1871-72  and  gave 
the  road  an  outlet  in  the  Southwest,  offering  a  more  di- 
rect route  to  the  principal  cities  in  the  South  Atlantic  and 
Gulf  States.5 

On  November  20,  1872,  the  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and 
Augusta  leased  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  for 
a  period  of  ninety-nine  years.  The  terms  provided  for: 
payment  of  regular  interest  on  all  bonded  debt  of  the 

1  Vernon  s  Railroad  Manual,  1874,  p.  355. 

2  Poors  Manual,  1870-71,  p.  402. 

3  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xi,  p.  497. 

4  Statement  filed  with  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  by  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company. 

6  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xliv,  p.  1437. 


WILMINGTON,  COLUMBIA,  AND  AUGUSTA     129 

company;  assumption  of  all  its  assets,  including  stock  and 
interest  in  the  Wilmington  Railroad  Bridge  Company; 
payment  of  all  liabilities  other  than  funded  debt;  payment 
to  the  company  of  5  per  cent  on  capital  stock  for  current 
year,  6  per  cent  the  next  year,  and  7  per  cent  for  each  suc- 
ceeding year  during  continuance  of  lease,  said  payments 
to  be  free  of  United  States  tax. 1  Failing  to  receive  the  rental, 
the  lessor  was  forced  to  dissolve  the  contract  in  December, 
1877.  Failure  to  carry  out  the  terms  of  this  contract  was 
the  forerunner  of  more  trouble,  and  in  October,  1879, 
the  road  was  again  sold  under  foreclosure  of  mortgage  and 
reorganized  in  February,  1880. 2  Under  the  reorganization 
plan  of  this  year  all  securities  except  the  first  mortgage 
bonds  were  cut  off,  and  these  were  exchanged  at  the  rate 
of  two  old  $1000  bonds  for  one  new  $1000  bond  and  $600 
of  stock.  The  new  bonds  bore  interest  at  6  per  cent  and 
fell  due  on  January  1,  1910. 

This  scaling  down  of  fixed  charges  relieved  the  situation. 
The  reorganization  plan  provided  that  profits  for  a  time 
should  be  used  to  rebuild  the  track  and  to  improve  the 
equipment.  New  steel  rails  were  bought  and  75  new  cars 
were  purchased.3  The  report  of  1881  showed  an  increase 
of  $93,510  in  gross  receipts  over  the  previous  year.  It  in- 
cluded a  recommendation  that  a  dividend  of  3  per  cent  be 
declared,  and  that  all  earnings  above  6  per  cent  should  be 
put  back  the  following  year  into  improvements.  In  refer- 
ence to  the  rebuilding  of  the  road  the  report  for  the  year 
ending  September  30,  1884,  says: 

It  is  a  cause  of  congratulation  that  the  day  seems  at  hand  in 
which  the  five  feet  gauges  of  the  various  southern  roads  will  be 
changed  to  four  feet  eight  and  a  half  inches  so  as  to  make  a  uni- 
form gauge  throughout  the  United  States.  This  alteration  to- 
gether with  change  of  rolling  stock  will  require,  it  is  estimated, 

1  Railroad  Gazette,  vol.  iv,  p.  518. 

2  Poor's  Manual,  1884,  pp.  422-23. 

3  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xxxm,  p.  686. 


130       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

an  outlay  of  about  $50,000.  It  is  important,  as  this  sum  will  be 
required  in  cash,  that  it  should  be  accumulated  from  the  earnings 
and  set  aside  for  the  emergency.  There  is  no  similar  amount  this 
company  could  be  called  upon  to  invest  from  which  it  would 
derive  a  tithe  of  the  advantage.1 

By  a  curious  coincidence,  eight  years  after  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  lease  of  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon,  the 
lessee  became  the  lessor  and  vice  versa,  when  on  June  1, 
1885,  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  took  a  ninety-nine  year 
lease  on  the  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and  Augusta.2  The 
terms  of  this  contract  were  that  the  Wilmington  and 
Weldon  guaranteed  the  interest  on  the  bonds  of  the  Wil- 
mington, Columbia,  and  Augusta,  and  a  6  per  cent  divi- 
dend on  the  stock.3  The  lease  continued  in  operation  until 
canceled  on  July  18,  1898,  in  order  that  the  Wilmington, 
Columbia,  and  Augusta  might  enter  as  a  separate  unit 
into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina. 

The  Northeastern  Railroad  of  South  Carolina 

The  Northeastern  Railroad  of  South  Carolina  suffered 
great  damage  to  its  property  during  the  Civil  War,  and  it 
was  forced  to  expend  during  the  years  following  $215,398 
on  reconstruction.4  It  suffered  also  because  of  the  total 
destruction  of  the  Savannah  and  Charleston  and  its 
delayed  reconstruction  after  the  war.  This  interfered 
greatly  with  railroad  travel  from  southern  points  north, 
which  ordinarily  passed  over  the  Northeastern.  Such  a 
result  was  not  surprising,  for  the  disuse  of  the  Savannah 
and  Charleston  formed  the  only  break  in  a  continuous  line 
from  St.  Marks,  Florida,  to  Portland,  Maine.5  Passenger 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xxxix,  p.  706.  See  Appen- 
dix, Table  X. 

2  Report  of  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  September 
30,  1835. 

3  Contract  filed  in  Treasurer's  office,  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 
Company,  Wilmington,  North  Carolina. 

4  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xli,  pp.  822-23. 

6  Report  of  Northeastern  Railroad  of  South  Carolina,  1869. 


THE  CHERAW  AND  DARLINGTON  RAILROAD     131 

traffic  was  diverted  before  it  reached  the  Northeastern. 
These  obstacles  were  not  altogether  removed  by  the  re- 
habilitation of  the  Savannah  and  Charleston,  due  in  large 
part  to  the  incompleteness  of  the  connections  with  that 
line  and  the  absence  of  double  daily  service  over  it.  For 
some  time  after  the  Civil  War,  the  country  through  which 
the  road  passed  did  not  furnish  a  business  sufficient 
for  its  capacity.  In  order  to  increase  the  freight  and  to 
encourage  the  farmers  to  produce  more,  rates  were  lowered 
in  1869,  resulting  in  a  falling  off  of  freight  earnings.1  In 
addition  to  this  disadvantage  the  lack  of  capital  and 
ready  money  restricted  the  movement  of  the  people.  The 
road  could  not  get  away  from  the  fact  that  it  was  very 
unfortunately  located  to  maintain  a  separate  existence.  It 
was  competing  on  one  side  with  water  transportation;  on 
the  other  it  was  the  base  of  a  triangle,  with  another  road 
bisecting  the  sides  and  running  parallel  to  it.  The  line  was 
a  valuable  one  to  form  part  of  a  system,  but  not  successful 
when  operated  alone.2 

The  Cheraw  and  Darlington  Railroad 

The  Cheraw  and  Darlington  was  a  naval  stores  road 
and  was  designed  to  give  the  people  of  the  upper  Peedee 
an  outlet  for  their  forest  products.  It  fulfilled  its  purpose 
in  its  early  history,  but  later  as  other  roads  were  built, 
much  of  its  traffic  was  diverted.  It  continued  to  make 
enough  to  support  itself,  and  by  a  series  of  purchases  be- 
ginning in  1892  it  expanded  into  a  small  system  of  roads. 
It  bought  the  Cheraw  and  Salisbury  Railroad  in  1892;  the 
Hartsville  Railroad,  from  Hartsville  to  Floyds,  South 
Carolina,  in  1895;  and  Division  A  of  the  Charleston  and 
Northern,  from  Gibson,  North  Carolina,  to  Darlington, 
South  Carolina,  in  1895. 3  This  small  system  went  into  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina  in  1898. 

1  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xlii,  pp.  792-93. 

2  See  Appendix,  Table  XI.  3  Poors  Manual,  1898.  p.  286. 


132       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

IV 

The  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  Group 

The  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Railroad 

Immediately  after  the  war,  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
without  outside  aid  was  restored  and  extended  to  Bain- 
bridge,  work  which  had  been  abandoned  in  1864.  Business 
improved  and  by  1867  the  road  was  getting  a  share  of  the 
cotton  trade  at  St.  Marks,  Florida,  reached  by  a  branch 
line.1  Although  its  gross  earnings  up  to  1871  and  its  oper- 
ating expenses  both  increased,  the  ratio  was  such  that  an 
increasing  surplus  could  still  be  set  aside.2  After  1870  its 
difficulties  began  again.  A  failure  of  the  cotton  crop  of 
1871  cut  down  the  number  of  bales  hauled  by  43,269,  in 
consequence  of  which  the  earnings  fell  off  $72,555.  In  ad- 
dition to  this  loss  of  traffic,  the  rate  had  to  be  reduced 
from  $.95  to  $.70  per  hundred  to  meet  competition  through 
Eufaula  and  Montgomery  to  Louisville.  Earnings  from 
passenger  traffic  also  began  to  decrease  owing  to  the  dis- 
organized railroad  connections  in  Florida,  and  the  income 
from  this  source  fell  $14,295  during  the  year  1872.3  The 
road  was  in  a  weakened  financial  condition  when  the  panic 
of  1873  came,  and  although  it  passed  through  this  and 
the  years  of  business  stagnation  following,  it  could  not 
recover  its  ground.  The  underlying  cause  of  its  difficulties 
was  that  the  original  plan  had  never  been  carried  out.  No 
through  route  to  Pensacola  and  Mobile  had  been  com- 
pleted. One  terminus  of  the  road  was  a  good  one,  the  other 
was  bottled  up.  The  charter  had  specified  that  the  route 
should  be  selected  with  distinct  reference  to  a  speedy  con- 
nection with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  that  it  was  the  in- 
tention of  the  state  of  Georgia  to  provide  a  main  trunk 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  vi,  pp.  456-58. 

2  See  Appendix,  Table  XII. 

3  Vernon  s  Railroad  Manual,  1873,  p.  339. 


CHARLESTON  AND  SAVANNAH  RAILROAD     133 

railway  across  her  territory,  connecting  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.1  The  experience  of  1871 
was  "sufficient  to  show  that  the  company  should  not  rely 
exclusively  on  its  temporary  local  establishment."  The 
Georgia  state  commissioners,  appointed  to  represent  the 
$1,000,000  of  stock  held  by  the  state  in  the  Atlantic  and 
Gulf,  reported  a  strong  argument  in  favor  of  carrying  out 
the  original  design  of  the  road  and  placing  it  in  connection 
with  the  Gulf  at  Pensacola,  Mobile,  and  New  Orleans  by 
the  construction  of  165  miles  of  road  from  Bainbridge  to 
Pollard,  Alabama,  where  it  would  connect  with  finished 
lines  of  railway  to  all  these  points.2  But  the  time  for  such 
palliative  measures  was  past.  A  receiver  was  appointed  in 
April,  1877,  and  a  bill  filed  in  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court  for  the  sale  of  the  road  to  satisfy  a  second  mortgage. 
The  court  ordered  the  road  with  all  its  branches,  consti- 
tuting altogether  350  miles  of  line,  to  be  sold  in  Savannah 
November  4,  1879. 3  It  was  bought  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Plant, 
for  $300,000  cash,  subject  to  a  mortgage  of  $2,713,500.  He 
increased  the  capital  stock  to  $2,000,000,  and  reorganized 
the  company  under  the  name  of  the  Savannah,  Florida, 
and  Western  Railway  Company. 

The  Charleston  and  Savannah  Railroad 

The  Charleston  and  Savannah  was  mainly  a  cotton 
carrying  road.  It  had  been  completed  just  before  the  war. 
Sherman,  on  his  march  to  the  sea,  left  it  a  right  of  way  and 
a  roadbed.  In  order  to  get  started  it  had  executed  a  $1,000,- 
000  mortgage  in  1858,  and  the  interest  on  this  had  not 
been  paid.  An  unconditional  sale  was  the  only  solution  of 
the  difficulties.  The  trustees  therefore  sold  the  road  in 
October,  1866,  for  $30,000  cash  to  Mr.  Joseph  H.  Taylor 
representing  the  bondholders.4  A  reorganization  then  took 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xjv,  p.  354. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  xv,  p.  219.  3  Ibid.,  vol.  xxix,  p.  40. 
4  American  Railroad  Journal,  vol.  xxxix,  p.  1141. 


134       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

place,  the  name  being  changed  to  the  Savannah  and 
Charleston  Railroad  Company.  The  bonds  amounting  to 
$1,000,000  were  converted  into  the  same  amount  of  stock. 
The  sale  had  been  made  subject  to  a  lien  by  the  state  of 
South  Carolina,  which  had  indorsed  certain  bonds.1  In- 
terest to  the  amount  of  $157,000  had  accumulated  on 
these  bonds  and  this  amount  was  funded  by  the  new 
company.  The  road,  104  miles,  was  rebuilt  at  a  cost  of 
$2,238,290,  and  opened  for  business  in  the  spring  of  1869. 2 
This  crisis  had  just  been  passed  when  the  panic  of  1873 
and  the  subsequent  depression  in  business  came  and  the 
road  again  found  itself  in  difficult  straits.  The  outcome 
was  a  decree  of  sale  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of 
South  Carolina.  The  sale  was  made  absolute  and  all 
parties  in  the  case  were  barred  of  any  equity  of  redemption 
or  other  right  in  the  property.  It  was  bought  at  fore- 
closure in  the  summer  of  1880,  reorganized  under  the 
name  of  the  Charleston  and  Savannah  Railway  Company, 
and  as  such  went  into  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western. 

The  Brunswick  and  Albany  Railroad 

The  Brunswick  and  Albany  came  out  of  the  Civil  War 
badly  crippled  and  struggled  along  as  best  it  could  till  the 
panic  of  1873.  This  gave  it  a  blow  from  which  it  could  not 
recover.  In  1871  it  was  engaged  in  building  an  extension 
from  the  seacoast  to  Eufaula,  Alabama,  242  miles.3  Con- 
struction had  been  completed  as  far  as  Albany,  Georgia, 
about  halfway  to  Eufaula,  when  the  president,  Mr. 
Kimball,  became  involved  in  financial  difficulties  due  to 
losses  in  the  Chicago  fire.4  Contracts  for  the  rest  of  the 
road  had  been  let  and  it  was  expected  that  it  would  con- 
nect with  the  Brunswick  and  Vicksburg.  This  collapse 
made  it  impossible  to  complete  the  undertaking.  An  at- 

1  Vernon  s  Railroad  Manual,  1873,  p.  330. 

2  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xii,  p.  337. 

3  Vernon  s  Railroad  Manual,  1873,  p.  346. 

4  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xm,  p.  605. 


THE  BRUNSWICK  AND  ALBANY  RAILROAD     135 

tempt  to  sell  the  road  under  a  mechanic's  lien  was  made 
in  1872,  but  the  sale  was  postponed.1  The  bondholders 
were  endeavoring  to  hold  the  road  for  their  debt,  since  the 
state  of  Georgia,  which  had  guaranteed  the  bonds,  had 
repudiated  its  guarantee.  The  next  year  it  was  sold  at 
auction  at  Brunswick,  Georgia,  October  15,  1873,  to 
J.  M.  Mayers,  who  represented  the  German  bondholders. 
He  paid  $530,000  for  it.2  This  sale  was  made  to  satisfy 
judgments  obtained  by  creditors.  The  road,  now  turned 
over  to  Charles  Schlatter  representing  the  stockholders, 
was  a  poor  piece  of  property;  it  had  never  earned  more 
than  $1000  per  mile  and  all  earnings  were  absorbed  in 
running  expenses.3  In  1882  it  was  again  sold,  this  time 
by  the  bondholders  to  Frederick  Wolffe,  and  was  reorgan- 
ized as  the  Brunswick  and  Western.4  Under  this  name  it 
was  bought  conditionally  by  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and 
Western,  the  conditions  being  that  the  purchasers  should 
have  sixty  days  in  which  to  investigate  the  title.  At  the 
expiration  of  the  specified  time,  the  agents  of  the  Plant 
System  stated  that  they  were  dissatisfied  and  declined 
to  take  the  road.5  Upon  notification  of  this  decision,  the 
bondholders  filed  a  bill  to  compel  the  specific  performance 
of  the  contract.  Little  else  was  done  imtil  the  stockholders 
met  in  Frankfort,  Germany,  and  unanimously  voted  to 
dispose  of  their  holdings,  162,400  shares,  to  the  Savan- 
nah, Florida,  and  Western.  The  German  stockholders 
received  for  their  holdings  in  the  road  £260,000  in  4  per 
cent  mortgage  bonds  of  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western 
and  £130,000  in  income  bonds  of  that  road.6  The  invest- 
ment in  1901  by  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  in 
the  Brunswick  and  Western  was  not  a  paying  proposition 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xv,  p.  773. 

2  Vernon  s  Railroad  Manual,  1873,  p.  346. 

3  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xxxi,  p.  535. 

4  Ibid.,  vol.  xxxv,  p.  637. 

5  Atlanta  Constitution,  September  27,  1S85. 

6  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xlv,  p.  819. 


136       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

financially.  It  did  give  the  Plant  System  improved  con- 
nections which  were  serviceable  to  it,  and  on  this  ground 
alone  can  the  acquisition  of  the  road  be  justified.1 

The  Alabama  Midland  Railroad 

The  Alabama  Midland  Railroad  Company  was  char- 
tered by  the  legislature  of  Alabama  in  March,  1887,  and 
by  that  of  Georgia  in  October  of  the  same  year,  as 
the  Alabama  Terminal  and  Improvement  Company.2  It 
purchased  a  short  line  known  as  the  Northwest  and 
Florida  Railroad  in  1889, 3  and  extended  it  from  Bain- 
bridge  on  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  to  a 
connection  with  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  at  Mont- 
gomery, a  distance  of  175  miles.  Upon  completion  of  the 
road  the  Plant  Investment  Company  purchased  the  ma- 
jority of  the  stock  from  the  Alabama  Terminal  and  Im- 
provement Company  and  took  charge  of  it  on  August  1, 
1890. 4  Subsequent  to  this,  a  difference  arose  between  the 
two  companies  over  certain  bonds  the  interest  on  which 
had  been  guaranteed  by  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  West- 
ern until  November,  1892. 5  The  Alabama  Terminal  and 
Improvement  Company  filed  a  bill  in  the  Chancery  Court 
asking  that  a  receiver  be  appointed  for  the  Alabama  Mid- 
land.6 The  matter  was  settled  out  of  court  and  the  road 
continued  as  the  property  of  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and 
Western  up  to  the  time  that  company  was  taken  over  by 
the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company. 

The  territory  served  by  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and 
Western  has  always  been  predominantly  agricultural. 
The  freight  which  the  road  handled  came  from  farms, 
forests,  and  mines  along  the  line,  the  extractive  industries. 
It  is  estimated  that  in  1900,  300,000  cattle  were  marketed 

1  See  Appendix,  Table  XIII.  2  Poms  Manual,  1889,  p.  655. 

3  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xlvit,  p.  532. 

4  Ibid.,  vol.  lii,  p.  717.  B  Ibid.,  p.  898. 
6  Ibid.,  vol.  liii,  p.  186. 


THE  ALABAMA  MIDLAND  RAILROAD  137 

from  the  contiguous  territory.1  The  chief  markets  are 
Brunswick,  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  Jacksonville,  at 
the  last  of  which  the  cattle  are  fed  and  shipped  to  Cuban 
markets.  Cotton  also  forms  one  of  the  chief  items  of 
freight.  By  no  means  the  least  important  is  the  early 
vegetable,  melon,  and  fruit  traffic  from  Florida  to  northern 
points.  Phosphate  rock  and  fuller's  clay  were  mined  along 
the  route.  The  forests  yielded  cross  ties,  turpentine,  and 
rosin.  The  nature  of  the  freight  varied  with  the  seasons. 
For  instance,  cotton  came  to  the  line  in  the  fall  and  winter 
and  one  kind  of  car  was  needed  to  haul  this;  fruit  and 
vegetables  appeared  in  the  spring  and  necessitated  an  en- 
tirely different  kind.  Fruit  and  melons  pay  a  high  freight 
rate  but  they  are  expensive  to  handle  because  of  the  speed 
with  which  they  must  reach  their  destination. 

The  passenger  traffic  of  the  road  was  also  seasonal,  con- 
sisting largely  of  passengers  going  south  for  the  winter. 
Such  travel  is  spasmodic  and  must  be  catered  to.  It  de- 
mands more  luxurious  accommodation  than  the  road 
would  have  otherwise  been  compelled  to  furnish.  More- 
over, the  system  was  subject  to  two  sources  of  competi- 
tion; one  to  the  north  and  west  over  the  lines  paralleling 
the  Mississippi,  the  other  over  the  water  routes  on  the 
Atlantic.  The  nature  of  the  traffic  subjected  the  road  to 
more  expense  and  more  risk  than  the  average.  In  spite  of 
this  it  prospered  during  the  years  just  prior  to  its  purchase 
by  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line,  but  it  became  more  remuner- 
ative when  operated  in  connection  with  a  larger  system. 
The  risk  under  these  conditions  was  distributed  over  a 
greater  mileage,  and  better  connections  and  quicker  time 
were  possible,  absolute  necessities  to  a  road  whose  traffic 
was  seasonal.  Its  purchase  therefore  by  the  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  Railroad  was  a  natural  outgrowth  of  its  situation. 

1  Compendium  of  Attractions  and  Business  Opportunities  along  the  Plant 
System  of  Railways,  1900,  p.  5.  J.  W.  Stephens,  Agricultural  and  Immigra- 
tion Agent. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
INTEGRATIONS  AND  CONSOLIDATIONS 

"As  long  as  railroads  were  purely  local  affairs,  each  locality 
might  charter  and  run  its  own.  The  moment  any  through 
traffic  grew  up,  this  was  found  to  be  a  wasteful  way  of 
doing  business.  If  they  changed  cars  at  every  point  of 
junction,  the  expenses  were  vastly  increased.  If  they  did 
not  change  cars,  there  was  still  the  awkwardness  of  divid- 
ing responsibility,  and  the  evil  of  having  two  separate 
organizations  where  one  would  do  the  work  better."  1  It 
was  inevitable,  therefore,  with  the  development  of  rail- 
roads as  the  chief  means  of  transportation,  that  the 
separate  lines  serving  the  Atlantic  seaboard  should  be 
forced  into  a  closer  relationship  with  each  other.  The  more 
important  the  roads  became  and  the  heavier  the  traffic, 
the  closer  the  relationship. 

The  integration  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  shows  prac- 
tically every  phase  of  railroad  development  in  the  United 
States,  the  one  notable  exception  being  that  of  cut-throat 
competition.  Beginning  with  a  number  of  short  lines  scat- 
tered throughout  the  territory,  there  existed  first  informal 
agreements  and  understandings  which  could  be  terminated 
at  the  will  of  any  one  of  the  parties.  Following  this  there 
came  the  physical  connection  of  the  roads  and  formal 
contracts  for  the  handling  of  through  passengers  and 
freight,  the  receipts  from  these  sources  to  be  divided  ac- 
cording to  mileage.  Next  was  the  holding  company  period 
when  one  company  purchased  the  majority  of  the  stock  of 
the  roads  and  exercised  a  controlling  influence  over  them. 
Finally  came  the  time  when  the  more  prosperous  lines 
purchased  outright  their  less  prosperous  neighbors  and 
formed  small  systems.  As  this  tendency  grew,  the  holding 
1  Hadley,  Railroad  Transportation,  p.  83. 


INTEGRATIONS  AND  CONSOLIDATIONS        139 

company  played  a  less  important  part  and  finally  disposed 
of  the  majority  of  its  holdings  and  ceased  to  exercise  any 
influence  over  the  management  other  than  in  its  capacity 
as  a  stockholder.  The  final  step  came  when  the  system 
thus  formed  began  to  buy  outright  other  systems  and 
incorporate  them  into  itself  or  to  allow  the  acquired  road 
to  continue  a  separate  management,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Louisville  and  Nashville. 

The  main  period  of  consolidation  and  expansion  falls 
within  the  decade  following  the  panic  of  1893.  This  is 
just  forty  years  later  than  the  beginning  of  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  New  York  Central  lines.  The  consolidation  of 
the  Pennsylvania  lines  also  came  much  earlier  than  did 
that  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line.  The  roads  in  the  South 
most  nearly  comparable  with  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  are 
the  Southern  and  the  Seaboard  Air  Line,  chartered  in  1894 
and  1900  respectively.  They  are  each  the  result  of  a  series 
of  integrations  and  consolidations  similar  to  those  that 
took  place  in  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line.  The  consolidation 
of  these  systems  occurred  at  about  the  same  time  as  that 
of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line,  that  is,  during  the  decade 
following  the  panic  of  1893. 

The  lateness  of  the  movement  in  the  South  is  attribut- 
able to  the  Civil  War  and  to  the  panic  of  1873.  The  war 
put  a  stop  to  all  railroad  improvement  in  this  section. 
Hardly  had  the  shock  of  this  passed  when  two  thirds  of 
the  railway  mileage  in  the  South  was  thrown  into  the 
hands  of  receivers  by  the  panic  of  1873.  Unfortunate 
though  these  catastrophes  were,  the  delays  caused  by 
them  enabled  the  roads  of  the  South  to  escape  the  period 
of  cut-throat  competition  and  rate  wars  of  the  late  seven- 
ties and  eighties.  Profiting  by  the  experiences  of  northern 
and  western  roads,  they  also  escaped  for  the  most  part 
the  evils  of  high  finance,  and  there  is  no  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  any  of  them  similar  to  that  depicted  by  Charles 
Francis  Adams  in  his  "A  Chapter  of  Erie.', 


140       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Company 

The  holding  company  period  in  the  history  of  the  At- 
lantic Coast  Line  Railroad  dates  from  the  incorporation 
of  the  American  Improvement  and  Construction  Company 
on  April  29,  1889,  under  the  laws  of  Connecticut.1  Under 
that  act  of  incorporation  this  company  was  "given  power 
and  was  authorized  to  acquire,  build,  own,  sell,  convey, 
equip,  lease  or  maintain  and  operate  by  steam  or  other 
power,  any  railroad,  street  railway,  tramway,  telegraph 
lines,  telephone  lines,  water  works,  canals,  bridges,  steam- 
ship or  steamboat  lines,  boats  and  vessels  of  all  kinds,  and 
the  appurtenances  thereof."  The  right  was  also  granted  to 
obtain,  carry,  and  transport  passengers,  mail,  express, 
freight,  and  other  articles.  In  addition,  the  company  was 
allowed  to  "acquire,  purchase,  produce,  generate,  and 
manufacture  by  mechanical  device  or  other  means  from 
any  substance  or  material,  distribute,  sell  and  convey,  use, 
deal  in,  and  otherwise  dispose  of  gas  and  electricity."  The 
original  capital  of  the  company  was  $500,000,  divided 
into  $50  shares  and  the  maximum  capitalization  was 
$10,000,000.  By  an  amendment  passed  on  June  22,  1889, 
the  maximum  capitalization  possible  was  increased  to 
$30,000,000.2 

After  four  years  the  name  of  this  company  was  changed 
to  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Company  by  the  act  of  May  5, 
1893.  Its  shares  of  stock  were  then  made  $100  instead  of 
$50.  An  additional  right  granted  at  this  time  is  of  particular 
interest,  bringing  the  company  within  the  scope  of  the 
present  history;  namely,  the  power  "to  hold  or  acquire  or 
otherwise  get  possession  of  shares  of  stock  in  other  cor- 
porations, bonds,  securities,  obligations,  and  to  transfer, 
sell  or  otherwise  dispose  of  such  obligations."  3  By  the  ex- 

1  Special  Laws  of  Connecticut,  vol.  x,  p.  1175.  For  informal  agree- 
ments and  early  contracts,  see  chapter  v. 

2  Special  Laws  of  Connecticut,  vol.  x,  p.  1443. 
8  lbid.t  vol.  xi,  p.  404. 


THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  COMPANY        141 

ercise  of  this  power  the  company  secured  the  majority  of 
the  stock  of  many  of  the  roads  in  this  study,  including 
that  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company  itself, 
which  it  retained  until  1914. 

In  January,  1914,  at  a  meeting  of  the  directors,  it  was 
determined  to  recommend  to  the  stockholders  that  the 
capital  stock  be  reduced  one  half,  from  $17,640,000  to 
$8,820,000. 1  Each  stockholder  was  to  be  required  to  return 
to  the  company  his  certificate  of  capital  stock,  receiving 
in  exchange  on  or  after  March  10,  1914,  the  new  certifi- 
cates for  the  same  number  of  shares  but  of  the  par  value 
of  $50  each.  In  consideration  of  the  reduction  of  stock, 
he  should  receive  two  shares  of  the  common  stock  of  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company.2  The  stock- 
holders decided  to  accept  this  recommendation  and  so 
voted  on  February  20,  1914. 3  The  stock  of  the  company 
was  accordingly  reduced  by  one  half,  and  the  stockholders 
received  for  $8,820,000  of  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Company 
stock,  $17,640,000  in  the  stock  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad  Company.  The  holding  company  by  means  of 
this  distribution  gave  up  the  controlling  interest  in  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad,  owning  on  June  30,  1915, 
only  $18,590,000  out  of  $67,755,700  of  the  outstanding 
stock  of  that  road.4  The  financial  success  of  the  Atlantic 
Coast  Line  Company  can  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  in 
1898  its  capital  was  increased  from  $5,000,000  to  $10,000,- 
000,  the  $5,000,000  increase  being  distributed  to  stock- 
holders of  record  as  a  100  per  cent  dividend,  representing 
the  earnings  of  the  company  in  financing  the  various  rail- 
roads in  which  it  was  interested.5 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xcvm,  p.  234. 

2  Circular  to  stockholders,  dated  January  15,  1914. 

3  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xcviii,  p.  609. 

4  Poor's  Manual,  1915,  p.  1129. 

8  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxvii,  p.  954. 


142       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  of  Virginia 

The  next  phase  of  consolidation  began  when  the  pros- 
perous roads  controlled  by  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Com- 
pany purchased  adjoining  roads  outright.  The  first  trans- 
action was  the  purchase  of  the  Petersburg  by  the  Rich- 
mond and  Petersburg,  under  an  act  passed  by  the  legisla- 
ture of  Virginia  in  1898,  authorizing  the  consolidation  of 
the  two  roads.1  The  act  provided  that  the  new  company 
should  acquire  the  stock  of  the  Petersburg  par  for  par, 
and  that  any  stock  not  exchanged  on  these  terms  could 
be  bought  outright  at  a  price  to  be  determined  in  the 
Circuit  Court  in  the  town  of  Petersburg,  or  by  a  committee 
appointed  for  that  purpose.  According  to  this  act  the 
Richmond  and  Petersburg  was  to  give  up  the  right  of  ex- 
emption from  taxation,  "except  the  original  exempt  prop- 
erty now  taxed  for  state  purposes  only."  The  act  increased 
the  capital  stock  to  $3,000,000  and  changed  the  name  of 
the  company  to  that  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 
Company  of  Virginia.2 

This  consolidation,  resulting  in  less  than  a  hundred 
miles  of  line,  was  a  mere  beginning,  for  at  the  next  ses- 
sion of  the  legislature  of  Virginia  an  act  was  passed  on 
January  12,  1900, 3  and  approved  later  by  the  legisla- 
ture of  North  Carolina,  by  which  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad  Company  of  Virginia  was  given  power:  to  lease, 
use,  operate,  and  consolidate  itself  with  other  roads;  to 
change  its  name  to  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Com- 
pany; to  own  stocks  and  bonds  or  other  evidences  of  debt; 
to  guarantee  stocks  and  bonds  of  other  railroad  or  trans- 
portation companies;  to  increase  its  capital  to  $100,000,000. 
This  act  provided  further  that  the  company  should  give 
up  all  rights  whatsoever  to  exemption  from  taxation.  This 

1  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1897-98,  ch.  635,  p.  674. 

2  See  Appendix,  Tables  XIV  and  XV. 

3  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1900,  ch.  18,  p.  24. 


ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA     143 

was  the  act  under  which  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 
Company  of  to-day  grew  up.  Under  it  were  acquired  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina,  the  Wilmington 
and  Weldon,  and  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western. 

The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  of  South  Carolina 

The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina  was  organ- 
ized on  July  16,  1898, x  under  the  provisions  of  an  act  of 
the  legislature  of  South  Carolina  passed  in  1897. 2  This  act 
provided  that  the  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and  Augusta 
Railroad  Company,  the  Northeastern  Railroad  Company 
of  South  Carolina,  the  Cheraw  and  Darlington,  the  Man- 
chester and  Augusta,  and  the  Florence  Railroad  Company 
should  be  consolidated  into  a  new  company  known  as  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company  of  South  Carolina.3 
The  South  Carolina  Railroad  Commission  indorsed  the 
plan  of  merger  early  in  1897, 4  but  in  order  that  there 
might  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  legality  of  the  action,  a 
friendly  suit  was  brought  in  the  Circuit  Court  at  Columbia, 
South  Carolina,  on  April  26,  and  it  was  decided  on  April  27 
that  the  consolidation  was  legal.5  The  outcome  of  this  suit 
allowed  the  consolidation  of  about  700  miles  of  line,  600  of 
which  were  located  in  South  Carolina.6  The  stockholders 
of  the  five  companies  voted  favorably  on  the  combination 
in  July,  1898.7  The  terms  according  to  which  the  merger 
became  effective  were  that  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of 
South  Carolina  gave  to  the  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust  Com- 
pany of  Baltimore  a  consolidated  mortgage  covering  the 
whole  property,  against  which  were  issued  $8,000,000 
fifty-year,  4  per  cent  bonds.8  The  new  company  also  is- 
sued $3,000,000  common  and  $5,000,000  preferred  stock. 

1  Railroad  Gazette,  vol.  xxx,  p.  486.       2  Poors  Manual,  1899,  p.  394. 

3  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxvii,  p.  273. 

4  Railroad  Gazette,  vol.  xxix,  p.  88.        6  Ibid.,  p.  331. 

6  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxiv,  p.  887. 

7  Ibid.,  vol.  lxvii,  pp.  179-80. 

8  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxi,  p.  1116. 


144       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

Holders  of  the  bonds  of  the  old  companies  were  given  until 
November,  1898,  to  exchange  their  bonds  for  an  equal 
amount  of  those  of  the  new  organization,  and  out  of 
$2,895,000,  $2,500,000  were  exchanged.1 

The  life  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina 
during  the  two  years  of  its  independent  existence  was  un- 
eventful. The  only  important  fact  was  the  securing  of  a 
lease,  jointly  with  the  Louisville  and  Nashville,  of  the 
property  of  the  Georgia  Railroad.  This  road  had  been 
originally  leased  by  the  Central  of  Georgia  and  the  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville  jointly.2  The  former  forfeited  its  interest 
by  a  failure  to  pay  its  share  of  the  rental,  whereupon  the 
latter  operated  the  whole  of  the  Georgia  Road  for  a  year 
and  then  disposed  of  one-half  interest  in  the  contract  to 
the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina.3  This  company, 
together  with  three  others,4  was  consolidated  on  April  23, 
1900,  into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company  of 
Virginia,  and  the  name  of  the  latter  changed  to  the  Atlantic 
Coast  Line  Railroad  Company.5 

The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company 

The  absorbing  road,  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  Virginia, 
though  less  than  a  hundred  miles  long,  acquired  over  1500 
miles  of  line.  The  stock  per  mile  of  the  purchasing  company 
was  greater  than  that  of  any  of  the  other  roads.  Though  its 
bonded  debt  per  mile  was  almost  twice  that  of  any  other, 
its  earning  power  was  also  double.  With  such  conditions  as 
these  it  is  not  strange  that  this  road,  short  though  it  was, 
should  become  the  parent  company. 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxvii,  p.  954. 

2  Appendix  to  Report  of  State  Corporation  Commission  of  Virginia, 
1913,  p.  14. 

3  Statement  issued  September,  1899,  by  August  Belmont,  Chairman 
of  Board  of  Directors  of  Louisville  and  Nashville  Railroad  Company; 
Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxix,  p.  591. 

4  The  three  were:  the  Southeastern  of  North  Carolina;  the  Norfolk 
and  Carolina;  and  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon. 

6  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxx,  p.  791. 


THE  SAVANNAH,  FLORIDA,  AND  WESTERN     145 

Purchase  of  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  Railway 

The  next  acquisition  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Rail- 
road was  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  Railway 
Company  in  April,  1902. l  The  road  consisted  of  a  main  line 
running  from  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  to  Tampa,  Flor- 
ida, with  numerous  branches,  amounting  to  1665  miles. 
This  system  was  itself  the  result  of  the  acquisition  of  a 
number  of  small  roads,  the  most  important  of  which  were 
the  Atlantic  and  Gulf,  the  Charleston  and  Savannah,  and 
the  Brunswick  and  Western,  the  history  of  which  has  al- 
ready been  given.  After  a  conference  held  in  New  York  on 
April  4,  1902,  between  the  representatives  of  the  Atlantic 
Coast  Line  and  the  Plant  systems,  the  following  statement 
was  issued:  "Negotiations  have  been  completed  under 
which  it  is  arranged  that  the  Plant  System  will  on  or  be- 
fore July  1,  1902,  be  consolidated  with  and  become  the 
property  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company. 
The  negotiations  contemplate  that  other  properties  of  the 
Plant  System  will  pass  under  the  control  of  the  Atlantic 
Coast  Line."2 

It  was  possible  to  arrange  this  consolidation  only  after 
considerable  litigation  over  the  Plant  will.  Practically  all 
the  stock  of  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  had  been 
owned  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Plant,  and  it  was  his  desire  that  there 
should  be  no  partition  in  his  property  until  the  majority 
of  his  great  grandson,  a  lad  then  four  years  old.  To  accom- 
plish this  he  had  tried  to  become  a  citizen  of  Connecticut  in 
order  to  take  advantage  of  certain  laws  in  that  state  which 
would  permit  him  to  make  such  a  provision  in  his  will.  The 
will  was  contested  by  his  widow  and  he  was  declared  a 

1  Supplement  to  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  April,  1902, 
p.  127. 

2  Statement  of  W.  G.  Elliott,  president  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad  Company  and  R.  G.  Erwin,  president  of  the  Savannah,  Flor- 
ida, and  Western  Railway;  Railroad  Gazette,  vol.  xxxiv,  p.  278;  Commer- 
cial and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxiv,  p.  774. 


146       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

citizen  of  New  York  and  therefore  unable  to  include  such 
a  provision  in  his  will.  l  When  this  point  was  settled  there 
was  no  legal  hindrance  to  the  consolidation.  The  Atlantic 
Coast  Line  stockholders  voted  favorably  on  the  proposition 
on  May  12,  1902.  The  terms  of  agreement  provided  that 
the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  assume  all  the  debts  of  the  Savan- 
nah, Florida,  and  Western  including  $12,451,000  4  per  cent 
bonds  dated  April  1,  1902,  with  the  understanding  that  the 
mortgage  remain  on  the  same  physical  property  as  formerly 
and  that  holders  of  preferred  stock  of  the  Plant  System 
should  receive  in  exchange  50  per  cent  of  their  holdings  in 
the  common  stock  of  the  new  company,  and  holders  of  the 
common  stock  should  receive  25  per  cent.2  Any  holders  who 
did  not  care  to  make  the  exchange  on  this  basis  were  to  be 
paid  at  an  agreed  valuation  in  6  per  cent  mortgage  bonds 
of  the  consolidated  company,  or  in  cash,  or  if  no  agree- 
ment could  be  reached,  at  such  price  as  the  law  might  de- 
termine.3 

The  United  States  Trust  Company  of  New  York  acted 
as  trustee.  The  stockholders  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad  Company  gave  assent  on  June  16,  1902,  to  the 
issuing  of  an  $80,000,000  mortgage  on  all  lines  owned  at 
the  time  or  to  be  built  by  it,  provided  that  the  mortgage 
should  not  exceed  $20,000  per  mile  of  line.4  Among  other 
purposes  set  forth  in  this  mortgage,  $12,451,000  of  bonds 
of  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  were  to  be  retired, 
after  which  this  became  a  first  mortgage  on  570  miles  of 
line,  and  a  first  mortgage  on  all  the  lines  owned  by  the  At- 
lantic Coast  Line  Railroad  Company  and  any  railway  prop- 
erty which  should  be  constructed  by  means  of  the  fund. 

1  Railroad  Gazette,  vol.  xxxiv,  p.  278. 

2  Agreement  of  consolidation  between  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 
Company  and  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  Railway  Company,  April 
10,  1902.  Filed  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Virginia. 

3  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxiv,  p.  1039. 

4  First  consolidated  mortgage,  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Com- 
pany, 1902,  p.  4. 


THE  LOUISVILLE  AND  NASHVILLE  RAILROAD     147 

Thus  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  which  operated 
on  May  16,  1902,  the  date  of  the  agreement,  1702  miles  of 
road,  was  merged  with  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 
Company  which  operated  at  this  date  1676  miles.1 

The  acquisition  of  the  Plant  System  was  the  last  of  the 
important  mergers  and  consolidations  by  which  various 
lines  and  systems  of  roads  became  integral  parts  of  the  At- 
lantic Coast  Line.  Another  event  of  far-reaching  effect  was 
the  acquisition  of  the  majority  of  the  stock  of  the  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville.  The  company  came  into  possession  of 
this  stock  by  accident;  it  bought  the  control  over  this  large 
and  important  road  as  a  matter  of  self-defense. 

Purchase  of  majority  of  Stock  of  the  Louisville  and 

Nashville  Railroad 

In  January,  1902,  John  W.  Gates  began  buying  on  the 
New  York  Stock  Exchange  shares  of  Louisville  and  Nash- 
ville stock.  This  silent  buying  continued  throughout  Feb- 
ruary and  March.2  The  activity  in  Louisville  and  Nash- 
ville stock  was  noticed  and  reports  of  every  kind  gained 
circulation.3  The  most  common  one  was  that  the  shares 
were  being  bought  by  the  Southern  Railroad  interests,  and 
that  the  two  roads  would  be  merged  into  one  system.  An- 
other, which  proved  to  be  the  true  one,  was  that  Gates  had 
organized  a  syndicate  to  speculate  in  Louisville  and  Nash- 
ville stock.  Matters  reached  a  crisis  early  in  April.  A  wild 
scramble  began  on  the  Exchange  on  April  8  when  58,000 
shares  changed  hands.  The  next  day,  April  9,  144,000  shares 
changed  hands,  and  the  following  day,  280,000  shares.  The 
prices  which  prevailed  were  five  points  above  the  record 
price  of  these  stocks  on  the  Exchange,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception of  1880,  when  cash  dividends  and  a  100  per  cent 

1  First  consolidated  mortgage,  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Com- 
pany, 1902,  p.  1.  See  Appendix,  Table  XVII. 

2  Railroad  Gazette,  vol.  xxxiv,  p.  759. 

3  New  York  Times,  Thursday,  April  10,  1902. 


148       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

script  dividend  was  declared,  at  which  time  the  price 
ranged  from  86  in  January  to  174  in  November.1  Gates  had 
acquired  almost  half  of  the  stock  of  the  company,  although 
so  far  as  was  publicly  known,  he  had  not  the  slightest  idea 
of  buying  the  road.  He  was  a  speculator  and  not  a  practical 
railroadman.2 

On  April  5,  1902,  August  Belmont  and  Company,  in  or- 
der to  take  advantage  of  the  prevailing  high  price,  placed 
in  the  open  market  $5,000,000  in  stock  which  had  been  in 
the  treasury  of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Company 
since  November,  1893. 3  The  purpose  of  issuing  this  amount 
was  to  secure  a  majority  of  the  stock  of  the  Atlanta,  Knox- 
ville,  and  Northern  Railroad  Company,  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  line  to  join  this  road  with  the  main  line,  and  to 
build  a  road  from  Knoxville  to  Jellico,  Tennessee.  Mr.  Bel- 
mont, chairman  of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  board  of 
directors,  acting  on  their  instructions  placed  the  stock  on 
the  market.  Gates  had  to  buy  or  else  this  amount  would 
force  the  price  down,  causing  loss  on  what  he  already  had. 
Since  the  stock  could  not  be  delivered  until  listed  on  the 
Exchange  for  thirty  days,  the  company  found  itself  short 
and  was  unable  on  account  of  the  state  of  the  market  to 
borrow  against  the  sales.  It  was  thus  compelled  to  go  into 
the  open  market  and  buy  at  a  higher  figure  than  the  stock 
so  sold.4  The  price  of  Louisville  and  Nashville  stock  varied 
during  the  week  from  108 J  to  122§. 

Up  to  this  time  the  public  had  not  definitely  known  who 
was  buying  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  stock,  but  the 
matter  was  cleared  up  on  April  16  by  statements  of  the 
parties  concerned.  The  real  battle  for  control  came  on 
April  10,  when  280,000  shares  changed  hands.  The  out- 
come was  that  Gates  secured  a  majority  of  the  stock  and 
thus  acquired  control  of  a  great  railroad  system,  when 

1  New  York  Times,  April  16,  1902. 

2  Railroad  Gazette,  vol.  xxxiv,  p.  759. 

3  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxiv,  pp.  775-76. 

4  New  York  Times,  April  11,  1902. 


THE  LOUISVILLE  AND  NASHVILLE  RAILROAD     149 

he  intended  only  to  engage  in  a  speculative  "spree."  He 
had  secured  a  practical  corner  on  the  stock,  and  the  shorts 
had  to  make  terms.  A  period  of  great  excitement  in  railroad 
circles  followed.  Railroad  men  were  afraid  of  Gates  and 
Hawley.  It  was  feared  that  they  would  cut  rates,  gut  the 
road,  and  get  out.  The  Gates-Hawley  syndicate  realized 
their  advantage  and  were  in  a  position  to  dictate  terms. 
Numerous  conferences  between  the  interested  persons  were 
held,  and  an  agreement  was  reached  on  April  15.  Peace  was 
declared  and  a  number  of  statements  given  out,  among 
which  were  the  following: 

J.  W.  Gates  on  Tuesday,  April  15,  1902,  said: 

We  have  bought  control  of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Rail- 
road. We  did  not  buy  it  on  speculation,  but  for  investment,  be- 
lieving absolutely  in  the  present  and  future  value  of  the  property. 
There  will  not  be  any  corner  on  the  stock.  We  have  placed  the 
entire  matter  in  the  hands  of  J.  P.  Morgan  and  Company,  and 
requested  them  to  act  as  arbiter  in  the  situation,  because  of  the 
prominence  of  the  property,  and  our  desire  not  to  disturb  in  any 
way  the  general  market  conditions,  and  because  we  know  they 
have  no  interest  whatever  in  the  property  or  recent  purchases. 

J.  P.  Morgan  and  Company  on  Wednesday,  April  16, 
1902,  said: 

At  the  request  of  Messrs.  Harris,  Gates,  and  Compam7,  who  on 
their  own  independent  account  have  recently  made  large  pur- 
chases of  Louisville  and  Nashville  Railroad  stock,  Messrs.  J.  P. 
Morgan  and  Company,  as  bankers,  have  consented  to  take  control 
of  the  stock  so  purchased  and  to  receive  the  same  on  deposit. 
They  have  so  consented  solely  to  relieve  the  general  financial 
condition,  and  not  for  the  benefit  of  any  railway  company.  The 
Southern  Railway  has  no  interest,  direct  or  indirect,  present  or 
prospective,  in  the  stock  or  its  purchase  or  deposit.  Messrs.  J.  P. 
Morgan  and  Company  are  acting  with  the  cordial  consent  of 
Messrs.  August  Belmont  and  Company. 

Mr.  August  Belmont,  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors 
of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville,  referring  to  the  above 
statements,  said: 


150       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

I  have  been  aware  of  the  negotiations  by  which  J.  P.  Morgan 
and  Company  have  consented  to  take  control  and  deposit  of  the 
stock  of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Railroad  Company,  pur- 
chased by  Harris,  Gates,  and  Company.  The  statement  of  Messrs. 
J.  P.  Morgan  and  Company  just  made  public,  has  my  unquali- 
fied approval  and  there  will  be  no  contest  for  the  control  of  the 
Louisville  and  Nashville  Railroad.1 

President  Spencer  of  the  Southern  Railway  and  Presi- 
dent Williams  of  the  Seaboard  Air  Line  also  issued  state- 
ments to  the  effect  that  their  roads  were  in  no  way  inter- 
ested in  the  deal. 

The  matter  rested  here  until  October,  when  announce- 
ment was  made  that  J.  P.  Morgan  and  Company  had  ar- 
ranged to  sell  their  holdings  in  the  Louisville  and  Nashville 
to  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company.2  These 
holdings  consisted  of  102,000  shares  of  common  stock 
bought  outright  from  J.  W.  Gates,  Edwin  Hawley,  and 
associates  at  a  price  reported  to  be  130,  and  204,000  shares 
bought  at  150  of  the  Gates-Hawley  syndicate  under  an 
option  of  April.  The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  paid  $50,000,000 
for  the  Morgan  interest  in  the  Louisville  and  Nashville, 
giving  $35,000,000  in  4  per  cent,  fifty-year  collateral  trust 
bonds  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  Virginia,  secured  by 
the  deposit  of  Louisville  and  Nashville  stock,  $5,000,000 
in  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  Virginia  stock,  then  selling  at  180, 
and  $10,000,000  in  cash.  The  stockholders  of  the  Atlantic 
Coast  Line,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Richmond,  November  17, 
1902,  voted  unanimously  to  approve  the  action  of  the 
board  of  directors  in  their  purchase  of  306,000  out  of  600,- 
000  shares  of  Louisville  and  Nashville  stock  outstanding.3 

Though  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  came  into  possession  of 
the  majority  of  the  stock  more  by  force  of  circumstances 
than  otherwise,  its  acquisition  has  proved  a  source  of  pro- 

1  Statements  given  to  the  press  and  quoted  in  Commercial  and  Finan- 
cial Chronicle,  vol.  lxxiv,  pp.  830-31. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  lxxv,  p.  733. 

3  Report  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  June  30, 1903. 


THE  LOUISVILLE  AND  NASHVILLE  RAILROAD     151 

fit.  In  1912  the  capital  stock  of  the  Louisville  and  Nash- 
ville was  increased  from  $60,000,000  to  $72,000,000,  and 
the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  increased  its  holdings  by  $6,000,- 
000  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  the  privilege  of  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville  stockholders  of  taking  one  new  share 
for  every  five  already  held.1  The  advantages  which  came 
to  the  road  through  this  control  can  be  illustrated  by  con- 
ditions during  1912.  As  a  part  of  the  purchase  price,  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  gave  $35,000,000  of  its  own  collateral 
trust  bonds  which  carried  a  4  per  cent  interest.  The  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville  that  year  paid  a  7  per  cent  dividend  al- 
though considerably  more  than  this  was  earned.  The  divi- 
dend which  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  received  amounted  to 
$2,142,000,  against  which  must  be  balanced  the  interest 
on  the  collateral  trust  bonds,  $1,400,000,  leaving  a  surplus 
of  $742,000. 2  This  surplus  would  amply  provide  for  the  in- 
terest charge  on  the  $10,000,000  of  cash  which  was  also  a 
part  of  the  purchase  price,  and  leave  a  margin.  This  ad- 
vantage comes  directly  in  money  and  does  not  include  the 
very  favorable  traffic  arrangements  which  might  not  other- 
wise exist. 

The  amount  of  fine  built  and  acquired  by  the  Atlantic 
Coast  Line  since  the  acquisition  of  Louisville  and  Nash- 
ville stock  is  of  relatively  small  importance.  It  is  one  of  the 
great  systems  in  the  country  and  its  problems  for  the  past 
fifteen  years  have  been  those  which  have  confronted  all 
other  large  systems  during  that  time.  The  chief  of  these 
has  been  to  keep  the  increase  in  operating  expenses  from 
exceeding  the  increase  in  receipts.  Another  has  been  to  de- 
velop such  a  traffic  along  its  line  that  it  might  have  a  more 
uniform  freight  flow  and  might  be  less  dependent  on  fruit 
and  early  vegetables  at  one  season  of  the  year  and  on  cot- 
ton at  another. 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xcv,  p.  967. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  1364. 


152       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

Present  Condition  of  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 

The  gross  earnings  of  the  road  have  very  greatly  in- 
creased since  1900;  the  expenses  have  increased  and  that 
too  at  a  more  rapid  rate;  in  other  words,  the  operating  ra- 
tio has  been  constantly  growing.  The  road  and  its  equip- 
ment have  been  steadily  improved.  The  amount  spent  on 
maintenance  of  way  and  structures  and  maintenance  of 
equipment  per  mile  has  just  about  doubled  within  the  last 
ten  years.1  This  fact  alone  would  raise  the  operating  ratio, 
but  not  to  such  a  point  as  it  has  reached.  The  cause  lies 
deeper.  During  the  year  1904-05,  the  earnings  of  the  road 
were  sufficiently  large  to  pay  the  regular  5  per  cent  divi- 
dend amounting  to  $1,918,835,  and  to  leave  a  surplus  of 
$2,364,647. 2  In  addition  to  the  regular  dividend,  the  board 
of  directors  this  year  declared  an  extra  one  of  25  per  cent 
payable  20  per  cent  in  the  common  stock  script  of  the  At- 
lantic Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  and  5  per  cent  in  cer- 
tificates of  indebtedness  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Com- 
pany of  Connecticut.  This  dividend  represented  money  ap- 
propriable to  the  payment  of  regular  dividends  which  had 
been  used  in  the  development  of  the  property.3  The  sur- 
plus of  $2,364,647  on  the  operations  for  the  year  1903-04, 
together  with  that  already  accumulated,  brought  the  en- 
tire surplus  on  June  30,  1904,  up  to  $13,712,994.4 

The  reports  of  the  president  continued  to  be  optimistic 
in  tone  up  to  and  including  that  of  June  30,  1906.  In  that 
report,  however,  attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that  the 
earning  power  of  the  road  had  been  cut  down  because  of 
the  inability  of  the  company  to  secure  certain  equipment 
which  had  long  been  overdue.  But  one  is  tempted  to  at- 
tribute a  part  of  the  difficulty  at  least  to  the  fact  that  the 
purchasing  agent  reported  a  15  per  cent  increase  in  the 
price  of  thirty  of  the  most  important  articles  used  by  the 
road.  From  this  time  on  the  road  was  constantly  struggling 

1  See  Appendix,  Table  XVIII. 

2  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxix,  p.  2177. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  2204.  4  Ibid.,  p.  2177. 


PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  THE  ROAD         153 

to  keep  down  expenses.  The  traffic  and  gross  earnings  dur- 
ing 1906  were  increased,  but  against  this  there  was  an  in- 
crease of  almost  $1,500,000  in  the  cost  of  conducting  trans- 
portation alone.  The  gross  earnings  that  year  had  increased 
12  per  cent  over  those  of  the  year  before,  but  this  was  more 
than  offset  by  a  19  per  cent  increase  in  expense.1 

This  was  for  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  the  beginning  of  a 
series  of  lean  years  which  practically  all  railroads  have  ex- 
perienced for  the  last  decade.  The  only  difference  was  that, 
thanks  to  its  accumulated  surplus,  it  was  in  a  better  posi- 
tion to  live  through  them  than  most  roads  were.  The  year 
1907  was  an  especially  hard  one.  It  was  a  repetition  of  1906, 
except  that  the  discrepancy  between  increase  in  earnings 
and  expenses  was  still  greater.  The  increase  of  earnings  of 
the  road  over  the  previous  year  were  $1,903,080,  or  7.5  per 
cent,  while  the  increase  in  operating  expenses  mounted  up 
no  less  than  $3,549,827,  or  21  per  cent.2  The  capital  invest- 
ment was  growing  all  the  while,  owing  to  necessary  im- 
provements due  to  additional  patronage;  the  capital  stock 
of  the  company  had  been  increased  in  1904  to  $50,000,000. 3 
This  increase  included  the  stock  dividend  mentioned  above. 
This  necessitated,  however,  a  greater  expense  in  dividends 
in  the  following  years,  since  the  company  had  to  maintain 
a  proper  rate  of  dividend  in  order  to  support  its  credit. 

The  difficulties  of  1907  were  due  not  only  to  an  increase 
in  expense  but  also  to  the  panic  which  demoralized  busi- 
ness the  latter  part  of  the  year.  Not  only  did  the  road 
have  to  face  a  disorganized  business  condition,  but  it  had 
to  put  into  effect  a  lower  freight  and  passenger  rate  in  a 
number  of  southern  states.4  The  company  had  foreseen 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxxiii,  pp.  1263-64. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  lxxxv,  p.  1305. 

3  Report  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  June  30, 1905. 

4  Decrease  in  passenger  rates: 

Virginia        3    to  2  cents,  effective  Oct.  1, '07 

North  Carolina Sh  to  2|    "  "       Aug.  8, '07 

Georgia 3    to  2i    "  "      Sept.  1,  '07 

Alabama 3    to  ih    "  "        Oct.  1,  '07 

(Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxxv,  pp.  1342-43.) 


154       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

difficulties  and  had  provided  against  them  by  the  issue  of 
$5,000,000  short-term  notes,1  but  there  was  no  way  to 
foresee  the  panic  or  guard  against  its  effects.  As  a  result, 
when  the  dividends  payable  on  January  10,  1908,  came 
due,  arrangements  had  to  be  made  for  them.  The  directors 
had  taken  no  action  with  reference  to  the  matter  at  their 
regular  meeting  on  November  19,  1907. 2  At  this  date 
there  was  outstanding  $47,537,600  common  stock,  on 
which  there  had  been  paid  the  year  before  a  6  per  cent 
dividend,  and  for  several  years  previous  5  per  cent.3  The 
regular  3  per  cent  semi-annual  dividend  was  declared  on 
January  10,  as  usual,  but  was  paid  in  4  per  cent  certificates 
of  indebtedness  of  the  company,  which  it  had  bought 
in  the  open  market  as  an  investment  between  June  30, 
1904,  and  June  30,  1907. 4  This  was  the  hardest  year  in 
the  history  of  the  road  from  the  time  of  consolidation  up 
to  the  outbreak  of  the  Great  War. 

The  year  1908  was  somewhat  more  successful.  Owing  to 
the  Jamestown  Exposition,  the  gross  receipts  from  passen- 
ger traffic  increased  slightly,  in  spite  of  a  flat  two  cent  rate 
which  had  been  put  into  effect  by  agreement  with  the  rail- 
road commissions  of  the  various  states  through  which  the 
road  operates.5  There  was  a  decrease  in  earnings  in  1909, 
however,  owing  to  the  two  cent  rate.6  The  gross  earnings 
in  1910  were  the  greatest  in  its  history  up  to  that  time,7 
while  the  expenses  for  that  year  had  been  exceeded  by 
those  of  two  others.  Owing  to  efficient  management  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  was  one  of  the  few  roads  in  the  coun- 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxxiv,  p.  506. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  lxxxv,  p.  1338. 

3  Dividends  of  the  company  since  its  formation: 

'01       '02       '03       '04       '05       '06       '07       '08       '09       '10       '11       '12        '13        '14 
ii        Si         5         5  5  6  6        5i        5i         6  6         7  7  5 

4  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxxv,  p.  1517. 

3  Report  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  June  30, 
1908. 
•  Ibid.,  June  30,  1909.  ■  Ibid.t  June  30,  1910. 


PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  THE  ROAD         155 

try  which  were  able  during  this  year  to  make  a  net  earning. l 
In  1909  the  salaries  of  all  officers  receiving  more  than  $3000 
a  year  had  been  cut  down  10  per  cent.2 

The  most  important  of  the  savings,  however,  has  been  in 
the  size  of  the  train  load.  The  average  number  of  tons  of 
freight  moved  per  train  mile  had  been  in  1905,  167  tons. 
This  had  increased  to  201  tons  in  1910,  and  has,  according 
to  the  report  of  the  road  for  June  30,  1915,  gone  up  to  223 
tons.  The  increase  has  been  due  to  the  effort  which  has  been 
put  forth  to  develop  the  territory  situated  along  its  lines. 
An  Immigration  and  Agricultural  Department  is  main- 
tained by  the  road,  the  duty  of  which  is  to  encourage  set- 
tlement along  the  line,  and  the  establishment  of  manu- 
facturing industries  in  the  towns  and  cities  served.3  In  addi- 
tion to  this,  the  road  has  operated  agricultural  trains  over 
its  lines  in  order  that  the  activity  of  its  patrons  may  be 
increased.  It  has  also  sent  special  cars  to  the  various  state 
fairs  throughout  the  northern  and  western  states  and  Can- 
ada, exhibiting  the  products  which  are  grown  along  the  line. 
In  this  way  it  has  done  much  to  increase  its  traffic.  In  spite 
of  its  efforts,  however,  and  in  spite  of  rigid  economy,  the 
last  few  years  have  been  hard  ones  for  the  Atlantic  Coast 
Line,  as  they  have  been  in  fact  for  most  railroads.  It  has 
had  to  battle  against  passenger  rates  which  were  unusually 
low,  and  against  the  expenses  incident  to  the  physical  valu- 
ation, a  movement  the  wisdom  of  which  is  doubtful  in  the 
minds  of  many  railroad  students. 

On  November  19,  1909,  the  stockholders  authorized  a 
$200,000,000  mortgage  bond  issue,  carrying  a  4  per  cent 
interest  charge.4  The  purpose  of  these  bonds  was  to  retire 
underlying  bonds,  to  take  up  certificates  of  indebtedness 
and  such  other  obligations  as  the  board  of  directors  should 
from  time  to  time  see  fit.  This  bond  sale  remained  open  un- 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxxix,  p.  1313. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  1314.  3  See  Appendix,  Table  XIX. 
4  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  lxxxix,  p.  1141. 


156       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

til  April  1,  1914,  when  it  was  decided  to  close  it.  The  money 
market  was  in  such  a  condition  that  a  bond  guaranteeing 
4  per  cent  as  a  maximum  could  not  be  sold  to  advantage. 
Instead  of  these  bonds,  general  unified  mortgage  bonds  of 
a  similar  amount  were  issued,  the  interest  to  be  adjusted 
as  the  conditions  might  seem  best  to  the  board  of  directors. 
This  was  the  state  of  affairs  on  the  eve  of  the  outbreak  of 
the  Great  War. 

Many  of  the  questions  which  arose  in  the  early  railroad 
era  in  the  United  States  appeared  in  the  growth  of  the  At- 
lantic Coast  Line  Railroad.  Some  of  these  have  been  set- 
tled, but  others  have  arisen  to  take  their  place.  Important 
among  them  was  the  question  of  taxation.  The  charters  of 
most  of  the  constituent  units  granted  exemption  from  taxa- 
tion. In  most  cases  the  roads  gave  up  voluntarily  this  privi- 
lege in  return  for  others  from  the  various  states.  In  a  few 
instances  the  question  was  settled  only  after  long  struggles 
in  the  courts. !  The  road  now  pays  taxes  regularly  in  all  the 
states  through  which  it  passes,  but  there  is  little  uniform- 
ity in  the  method  of  assessment  or  collection.  This  situa- 
tion, as  well  as  the  conflicting  legislation  between  the  states 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  federal  government  on  the  other, 
and  among  the  states  themselves,  has  brought  unnecessary 
hardship  upon  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line. 

Taxation 

A  resume  of  the  tax  laws  of  the  six  states  through  which 
the  line  passes  shows  an  entire  lack  of  uniformity.2  No  one 
principle  of  taxation  is  adhered  to  throughout,  though  the 
general  property  tax  predominates.  The  dates  on  which 
returns  have  to  be  made  vary.  In  Virginia  a  state  franchise 
tax  of  li  per  cent  is  levied  on  the  gross  transportation  re- 

1  See  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company  vs.  Allsbrook,  146 
U.S.  279;  110  North  Carolina  137;  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad 
Company  vs.  Reid,  13  Wall.  264. 

2  An  unpublished  manuscript  by  Mr.  C.  J.  Joseph,  Tax  Agent  of  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company. 


TAXATION  157 

ceipts  of  the  road.  Municipal  taxes  are  levied  on  the  tan- 
gible personal  property  at  the  same  rate  as  the  general  prop- 
erty tax.  In  addition  there  is  a  state  tax  on  rolling  stock 
and  an  annual  registration  fee  of  $25.  In  North  Carolina 
the  general  property  tax  prevails  and  there  is  a  state  privi- 
lege tax  of  $10  per  mile  when  the  annual  earnings  exceed 
$5000  per  mile.  The  railroad  pays  to  the  state  of  South 
Carolina  a  corporation  license  tax  of  $.003  on  the  gross  in- 
terstate receipts.  The  entire  expense  of  assessment  and  the 
salaries  of  the  railroad  commissioners  are  also  paid  by  the 
railroad.  In  Georgia  the  value  of  the  entire  property  of 
the  road  is  determined,  the  value  of  the  franchise  is  calcu- 
lated, and  the  sum  total  of  these  is  taxed.  The  road  pays 
an  occupation  tax  of  $200.  The  state  of  Florida  demands 
a  license  tax  of  $10  a  mile,  half  of  which  goes  to  the  vari- 
ous counties  through  which  the  road  runs.  Municipalities 
tax  the  personal  property  of  the  roads  within  their  limits, 
making  the  levy  themselves  or  accepting  that  of  the  state. 
In  Alabama  60  per  cent  of  the  personal  property  of  the 
road  is  taxed  at  the  same  rate  as  other  personal  property. 
The  value  of  the  franchise  is  calculated  and  the  state 
board  apportions  the  valuation  of  the  state  franchise  to 
each  county  or  municipality  according  to  mileage,  and 
taxes  it  at  the  rate  which  is  levied  on  real  and  personal 
property.  Under  these  laws  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  paid 
for  the  calendar  year  ending  December  31, 1916,  the  fol- 
lowing taxes : 

Aggregate  taxes  Aggregate  average 

paid  per  mile  tax  rate 

Virginia $686.57  $1.69 

North  Carolina 493 .  15  1 .  35 

South  Carolina 403 .  15  2 .  48 

Georgia 389.23  1.77 

Florida 341.26  3.65 

Alabama 328.47  1.62 


158       THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  LINE  RAILROAD 

Conflicting  Federal  and  State  Regulation 

The  regulation  of  railroads  by  federal  and  state  authori- 
ties is  no  more  uniform  than  the  tax  laws  in  the  various 
states.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  gives  to  Con- 
gress power  to  regulate  commerce  among  the  several  states. 
Purely  intrastate  commerce  is  left  to  the  regulation  of  the 
states  so  long  as  the  regulation  does  not  burden  interstate 
commerce.  Congress  has  given  to  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  power  to  regulate  railroads  so  far  as  interstate 
commerce  is  concerned,  but  has  especially  provided  that 
the  regulations  shall  not  apply  to  the  transportation  of 
passengers  or  property  or  to  the  receiving,  delivering,  stor- 
age, or  handling  of  property  wholly  within  one  state  and 
not  shipped  to  or  from  any  other  state  or  territory.  The 
several  state  commissions  undertake  to  regulate  the  rail- 
roads as  to  intrastate  matter,  and  a  railroad  which  extends 
through  several  states,  as  is  the  case  of  the  Atlantic  Coast 
Line,  is  therefore  regulated  by  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  and  also  by  the  commissions  of  the  states. 
Under  this  system  and  in  view  of  the  many  nice  distinc- 
tions as  to  what  constitutes  interstate  commerce,  it  is  to  be 
expected  that  conflicting  regulations  will  arise. 

The  most  sensitive  point  of  contact  between  the  rail- 
roads and  the  public  is  that  which  concerns  rates,  and  it  is 
with  regard  to  rates  that  the  conflict  has  been  most  pro- 
nounced. State  authorities  have  prescribed  a  scale  of  state 
rates  designed  to  give  to  the  citizens  of  that  state  prefer- 
ence as  to  state  markets  over  citizens  of  adjacent  states, 
making  the  state  rate  lower  than  the  interstate  rate. 

But  the  conflict  is  not  confined  to  questions  of  rates.  It 
is  but  one  phase  of  the  underlying  conflict  between  the  idea 
of  a  centralized  government  as  opposed  to  that  of  the  sev- 
eral states.  Conflicting  regulations  appear  practically  in 
every  case  where  there  is  possibility  of  distinguishing  the 
interstate  from  the  intrastate  character  of  the  activity  to 


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APPENDIX 

TABLE  I 

Dividends  paid  by  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company 
from  1835  to  1862 

Date  Per  cent  Amount 

Nov.  1,  1835 5   $30,125 

May  1,  1836 5  30,275 

Nov.  1,  1836 5  30,275 

No  dividend  till  June  1,  1838. 

June  1,  1838 4   24,220 

Nov.  1,  1838 3§ 21,192.50 

June  1,  1839 3| 21,192.50 

Dec.  1,  1839 3   18,165 

June  1,  1840 3   18,165 

June  1,  1841 4   24,220 

Dec.  1,  1841 3   . 18,165 

No  dividend  till  July  1,  1844. 

July  1,1844 1| 11,535 

Jan.  1,  1845 if 11,535 

July  1,  1845 2  15,380 

Jan.  1,  1846 3  23,070 

July  1,  1846 3  23,070 

Jan.  1,  1847 3  23,070 

July  1,  1847 3£ 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1848 3£ 26,915 

July  1,  1848 3£ 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1849 3£ 26,915 

July  1,  1849 4  30,760 

Jan.  1,  1850 3  23,070 

July  1,  1850 4  30,760 

Jan.  1,  1851 3f 26,915 

July  1,  1851 3| 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1852 3  23,070 

July  1,  1852 S\ 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1853 3£ 26,915 

July  1,  1853 3£ 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1854 3£ 26,915 

July  1,  1854 3£ 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1856 If 13,161 

July  1,1856 If 13,215 

Jan.  1,  1857 3   26,454 

July  1,  1857 3   26.496 

Jan.  1,  1858 3   26.496 

July  1,  1858 3  26.496 

Jan.  1,  1859 3£ 30,912 

July  1,  1859 4  35,328 

Jan.  1,  1860 5  44,160 

July  1,  1860 5  44,160 

Jan.  1,  1861 5  44,160 

July  1,  1861 4   46,964 

Jan.  1,  1862 12| 146,762 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

TABLE  I 

Dividends  paid  by  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company 
from  1835  to  1862 

Date  Per  cent  Amount 

Nov.  1,  1835 5   $30,125 

May  1,  1836 5  30,275 

Nov.  1,  1836 5  30,275 

No  dividend  till  June  1,  1838. 

June  1,  1838 4   24,220 

Nov.  1,  1838 3£ 21,192.50 

June  1,  1839 3£ 21,192.50 

Dec.  1,  1839 3   18,165 

June  1,  1840 3   18,165 

June  1,  1841 4   24,220 

Dec.  1,  1841 3   18,165 

No  dividend  till  July  1,  1844. 

July  1,  1844 H 11,535 

Jan.  1,  1845 l£ 11,535 

July  1,  1845 2   15,380 

Jan.  1,  1846 3   23,070 

July  1,  1846 3  23,070 

Jan.  1,  1847 3  23,070 

July  1,  1847 3£ 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1848 3| 26,915 

July  1,1848 3^ 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1849 3£ 26,915 

July  1,  1849 4  30,760 

Jan.  1,  1850 3  23,070 

July  1,  1850 4   30,760 

Jan.  1,  1851 3£ 26,915 

July  1,  1851 3| 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1852 3   23,070 

July  1,1852 3| 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1853 3£ 26,915 

July  1,1853 3i 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1854 3£ 26,915 

July  1,1854 3| 26,915 

Jan.  1,  1856 1± 13,161 

July  1,1856 1| 13,215 

Jan.  1,  1857 3   26,454 

July  1,  1857 3   26.496 

Jan.  1,  1858 3   26.496 

July  1,  1858 3  26,496 

Jan.  1,  1859 3£ 30,912 

July  1,  1859 4    35,328 

Jan.  1,  1860 5    44,160 

July  1,  1860 5    44,160 

Jan.  1,  1861 5    44,160 

July  1,  1861 4    46,964 

Jan.  1,  1862 12| 146,762 


168 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  II 

Financial  Condition  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg 
Railroad  from  1839  to  the  Civil  War 


Year 

Cos: 

Earnings  from 

Total 

Total  ex- 

Oper- 
ating 
ratio 

Net 

Passen- 
gers 

Freight 

Mails 

earnings 

penses 

ings 

1839 

$743,410 

$41,713 

$7,383 

$5,863 

$54,959 

$30,504 

65 

$24,455 

1840 

772,915 

43,144 

18,755 

7,243 

68,289 

36,194 

53 

32,095 

1841 

783,082 

43,655 

21,797 

5,628 

71,080 

43,266 

61 

27,814 

1842 

789,305 

40,311 

20,007 

5,812 

66,131 

43,190 

65 

22,941 

1843 

793,012 

28,462 

19,917 

5,489 

53,808 

88,710 

72 

15,158 

1844. 

794,091 

30,655 

17,205 

6,341 

54,203 

35,689 

66 

18,514 

1845 

794,440 

31,729 

21,372 

6,101 

59,203 

41,957 

71 

17,246 

1846 

914.8931 

36,716 

35,590 

6,561 

78,868 

45,282 

57 

33,586 

1847 

925,793 

38,513 

47,437 

10,359 

96,310 

58,319 

61 

87,991 

1848 

929,750 

37,188 

59,393 

11,966 

108,554 

74,130 

68 

34,424 

1849.... 

933,658 

36,554 

52,273 

10,614 

99,441 

72,810 

73 

26,631 

1850.... 

941,195 

60,913* 

71,473 

12,977 

145,363 

107,686 

74 

37,677 

1851 

945,137 

52,740 

51,640 

11,970 

116,352 

79,110 

68 

37,242 

1852 

945,822 

50,537 

55,879 

12,404 

118,721 

75,971 

64 

42,750 

1853 

983,335 

57,236 

62,084 

14,616 

130,936 

88,663 

68 

42,273 

1854 

1,095,812 

62,006 

67,863 

13,785 

143,474 

74,779 

52 

68,695 

1855 

69,867 

95,000 

8 

145,702 

72,664 

50 

73,038 

1856 

1,205,030 

81,255 

65,280 

10,649 

151,947 

78,713 

52 

73,234 

1857.... 

84,422 

63,327 

s 

157,409 

82,663 

53 

74,746 

1858 

1,205,411 

80,521 

62,226 

14,282 

156,908 

71,728 

46 

85,180 

1859.... 

1,250,186 

83,227 

59,460 

14,854 

157,542 

75,056 

48 

82,485 

I860.... 

.... 

80,260 

56,743 

14,912 

151,905 

67,024 

44 

84,881 

i  Including  Fort  Walthall  Branch.  '  These  returns  are  for  17  months. 

_  3  Included  in  freight  earnings. 


APPENDIX 


169 


TABLE  III 

Amount  of  Freight  received  at  Wilmington  and  at 
Weldon  from  1854  to  1860 x 


Year 

Bacon 

Corn 

Cotton 

Flour 

Wheat 

Rosin 

Turpen- 
tine 
bbls. 

Tar 

lbs. 

bu. 

bales 

bbls. 

bu. 

bbls. 

bbls. 

1854 

499,812 

15,973 

7,088 

270 

1,196 

113,888 

13,469 

6,944 

1855 

527,426 

25,807 

13,575 

4,991 

3,052 

100,244 

18.721 

8,798 

1856.... 

527,578 

31,918 

12,935 

15,084 

67,510 

73,430 

19,005 

11,028 

1857.... 

372,882 

9,856 

12,954 

20,248 

71,611 

87,676 

12,875 

4,491 

1858.... 

650,347 

12,547 

19,058 

14,065 

84,295 

93,639 

19,712 

2,173 

1859 .... 

275,078 

20,363 

23,553 

12,952 

52,112 

76,222 

24,204 

10,039 

1860*  . . . 

379,610 

12,713 

31,256 

11,215 

7,416 

63,573 

18,056 

7,732 

1  Report  of  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company,  November  8,  1860. 
1  Number  of  through  passengers  for  the  year  ending  September,  1860,  25,595,  num- 
ber of  way  passengers,  81,051. 


TABLE  IV 

The  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company  from 

1841  to  1899 


Year 

Receipts 

Expendi- 
tures 

Profits 

Price  of 
through 
ticket 

Number 

through 

passengers 

Number 
way  pas- 
sengers 

1841 

$297,228 
a  211,977 
286,172 
269,523 
288,493 
317,822 
331,480 

$241,945 
180,892 
148,166 
203,633 
212,091 
289,682 
259,912 

$52,283 
31,084 
78,006 
85,900 
76,402 
28,140 
71,567 

$20 
18 
13 
13 
12 
12 
10 

9,742 

8,45*0 
10,358 
11,018 
11,885 
12,997 

5,498 

1842 

1843 

13,574 

1844 

16,041 

1845 

16,393 

1846 

20,493 

1847 

25,396 

170 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  IV  (continued) 


Earningi 

r 

Year 

Expenses 

Operat- 

Through 

Local 

Freight 

Mails 

Total 

ing 
ratio 

-passengers 

passengers 

1848 

$113,078 

$53,092 

$51,534 

$87,288 

$317,459 

$275,328 

86% 

1849 

108,962 

50,173 

57,014 

85,029 

310,397 

245,698 

79 

1850 

193,706 

62,382 

71,051 

80,626 

422,325 

274,764 

65 

1851 

195,509 

75,350 

93,348 

116,626 

497,219 

277,255 

55 

1852 

200,425 

98,935 

110,194 

82,063 

510,038 

325,909 

63 

1853 

214,135 

138,148 

112,582 

86,424 

568,899 

348,307 

50 

1854 

151,034 

132,511 

130,463 

63,296 

482,880 

291,220 

60 

1855 

151,377 

96,644 

142,348 

51,672 

441,994 

268,818 

60 

1856 

162,341 

108,408 

154,158 

48,600 

479,349 

273,895 

50 

1857 

177,549 

103,365 

157,451 

48,600 

494,508 

295,331 

60 

1858 

126,857 

96,529 

157,832 

48,600 

446,583 

248,518 

55 

1859 

144,630 

109,795 

161,666 

48,600 

477,554 

242,353 

51 

1860 

133,896 

118,347 

185,204 

48,600 

500,209 

325,338 

65 

1861 

195,238 

139,786 

180,143 

44,550 

571,236 

247,106 

43 

1862 

454,845 

184,496 

246,348 

24,300 

955,348 

295,693 

32 

1863 

293,008 

563,671 

480,449 

25,900 

1,402,831 

593,178 

41 

1864 

784,870 

688,051 

1,434,378 

25,308 

3,010,039 

1,864,224 

61 

1865 

67,676 

687,176 

519,036 

12,550 

1,298,469 

905,104 

70 

1866 

110,814 

128,351 

611,599 

18,273 

611,599 

892,634 

113 

1867 

134,731 

141,574 

248,379 

59,151 

583,836 

278,891 

47 

1868 

108,896 

110,109 

299,640 

76,523 

596,169 

296,149 

48 

1869 

112,023 

108,263 

295,763 

102,607 

594,221 

346,570 

58 

1870 

102,913 

123,538 

331,578 

36,190 

550,934 

305,665 

51 

1871 

92,411 

114,419 

321,001 

24,945 

579,583 

351,896 

60 

1872 

92,759 

131,255 

366,176 

24,945 

635,870 

405,037 

63 

1873 

111,435 

139,550 

453,326 

24,945 

739,577 

458,957 

60 

1874 

104,399 

106,843 

467,246 

24,945 

711,409 

398,440 

56 

1875 

106,778 

103,770 

403,746 

38,812 

661,295 

391,786 

59 

1876 

110,995 

90,472 

359,165 

28,886 

604,698 

365,721 

60 

1877 

87,779 

73,081 

341,443 

26,550 

548,462 

340,107 

62 

1878 

89,715 

81,993 

274,486 

28,128 

487,815 

267,389 

54 

1879 

77,788 

79,443 

302,855 

28,466 

505,957 

330,284 

62 

1880 

86,314 

91,937 

365,506 

38,564 

603,175 

414,260 

69 

1881 

108,484 

102,427 

449,914 

67,858 

750,916 

447,083 

59 

1882 

125,361 

126,470 

429,937 

72,391 

783,790 

574,318 

73 

1883 

143,745 

119,495 

426,132 

73,253 

797,428 

601,549 

75 

1884 

154,121 

117,339 

412,992 

75,716 

788,014 

493,382 

63 

1885 

170,422 

119,429 

425,978 

83,000 

824,956 

451,815 

55 

1886 

173,946 

117,822 

449,073 

84,253 

861,639 

487,539 

57 

1887 

179,360 

135,590 

513,665 

85,122 

946,762 

548,450 

58 

1888 

205,227 

153,280 

651,856 

88,719 

1,135,232 

587,102 

52 

1889 

145,279 

118,750 

629,751 

70,498 

993,037 

532,505 

54 

1890 

212,234 

171,471 

808,093 

96,149 

1,350,853 

681,137 

50 

1891 

239,988 

183,606 

939,857 

98,226 

1,535,714 

855,678 

56 

1892 

238,478 

171,954 

863,953 

88,628 

1,452,012 

802,884 

52 

1893 

266,831 

169,324 

957,596 

111,153 

1,569,295 

896,656 

57 

1894 

241,317 

168,598 

1,067,263 

92,486 

1,618,800 

948,526 

58 

1895 

237,567 

167,560 

1,070,320 

96,578 

1,628,076 

971,553 

60 

1896 

248,968 

185,724 

1,202,427 

96,700 

1,803,196 

1,067,207 

59 

1897 

229,464 

195,308 

1,235,289 

105,911 

1,854,005 

1,088,840 

59 

1898 

237,447 

216,666 

1,494,2(57 

109,495 

2,179,081 

1,240,450 

57 

1899 

305,683 

244,667 

1,508,857 

110,747 

2,311,464 

1,268,887 

55 

APPENDIX 


171 


TABLE  V 

Condition  of  the  Foreign  Trade  of  Savannah  at  the 
Beginning  of  the  Railroad  Era  * 


Cotton  (bags) 

Rice  (tierces) 

Lumber  (1000  feet) 

Year 

Foreign 

Coast- 
wise 

Total 

Foreign 

Coast- 
wise 

Total 

For- 
eign 

Coast- 
wise 

Total 

1825.... 

64,906 

72,789 

137,695 

2,154 

5,081 

7,236 

1826 

108,486 

82,092 

190,578 

4,978 

6,477 

11,455 

1839 

199,176 

21,332 

1840.... 

284,249 

24,392 

1841.... 

147,280 

23,587 

14,295 

1842.... 

142,386 

79,868 

222,254 

5,933 

16,131 

22,064 

5,919 

2,471 

8,390 

1843.... 

193,099 

87,727 

180,826 

10,675 

15,606 

26,281 

5,533 

1,987 

7,520 

1844 

130,964 

113,611 

344,575 

10,307 

18,236 

28,543 

3,034 

2,899 

5,933 

1845 

182,073 

122,471 

304,544 

11,712 

17,505 

29,217 

3,334 

4,937 

8,271 

1846.... 

77,852 

108,454 

186,306 

5,025 

27,122 

32,147 

3,366 

5,220 

8,586 

1847.... 

119,321 

114,830 

234,151 

10,218 

21,521 

31,739 

4,886 

5,845 

10,730 

1848.... 

55,801 

70,293 

126,094 

7,410 

15,548 

22,958 

5,545 

5,197 

10,732 

1  Bancroft,  Savannah,  Census  and  Statistics,  p.  37  ff. 


TABLE  VI 

Increase  of  Traffic  of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg 

Railroad  during  the  Civil  War;  Receipts  paid 

in  Confederate  Money  * 


Year 

Freight  Earnings 

Passenger  Earnings 

Total  Earnings 

1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 

$58,063 

97,036 

174,556 

295,006 

11,474 

$74,985 
167,984 
333,365 
378,986 
19,435 

$153,432 

300,981 

545,659 

741,596 

33,100 

Poor's  Manual,  1870-1871,  p.  85. 


172 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  VII 

Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company 


Year 

Gross  Earnings 

Expenses 

Net  Revenue 

1867 

$136,456 

$82,633 

$53,823 

1868 

146,985 

88,974 

58,010 

1869 

160,945 

123,601 

37,344 

1870 

170,693 

120,315 

50,377 

1871 

148,139 

139,098 

9,040 

1872 

160,319 

114,374 

45,945 

1873 

160,227 

145,407 

14,819 

1874 

147,220 

113,552 

33,667 

1875 

164,935 

86,684 

78,251 

1876 

137,116 

77,312 

60,094 

1877 

137,116 

89,844 

47,271 

1878 

140,068 

77,515 

62,553 

1879 

154,622 

81,551 

73,071 

1880 

164,198 

85,099 

79,099 

1881 

185,905 

99,978 

85,926 

1882 

174,378 

117,881 

56,596 

1883 

182,820 

104,575 

78,245 

1884 

195,369 

108,299 

87,069 

1885 

192,650 

97,481 

95,168 

1886 

207,454 

111,855 

95,598 

1887 

224,389 

128,375 

96,014 

1888 

254,164 

168,748 

85,415 

1889 

217,790 

141,722 

76,068 

1890 

325,304 

224,481 

100,822 

1891 

325,268 

254,848 

70,420 

APPENDIX  173 


TABLE  VIII 

Financial  Condition  of  the  Petersburg  Railroad  Company 
while  in  the  hands  of  receiver,  1880-1881  * 

Earnings 
1880  1881 

Passengers $65,448  $75,792 

Freight 134,737  168,835 

Mail  and  express 20,427  33,575 

Miscellaneous 9,046  8,052 

Total $229,658         $286,254 

Expenses 
1880  1881 

Maintenance  of  way  and  structures $59,749  $55,129 

Rolling  Stock 42,045  45,869 

Transportation 46,600  49,135 

Miscellaneous 20,878  39,147 

Total $169,272         $189,280 

Operating  ratio 74%  66% 

Net  earnings,  1880 $60,386  26% 

Net  earnings,  1881 $96,974  33% 

1  Reports  of  Petersburg  Railroad  Company,  in  Poor's  Manual  for  1881-1882. 


TABLE  IX 

Number  of  Cars  of  Strawberries  shipped  annually 
from  North  Carolina  from  1897  to  1916  * 

Year                                      Number  of  cars  Year  Number  of  cars 

1897 423    1907 1,065 

1898 856    1908 1,282 

1899 991    1909 1,461 

1900 1,127    1910 1,356 

1901 1,218    1911 978 

1902 1,301    1912 1,067 

1903 1,080    1913 1,144 

1904 1,416    1914 1,022 

1905 1,296    1915 988 

1906 2,376    1916 1,078 

1  From  an  unpublished  manuscript  on  "The  Strawberry  Industry  of  Eastern  North 
Carolina"  and  especially  along  the  various  divisions  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad, 
by  Z.  W.  Whitehead. 


174 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  X 

Financial  Condition  of  the  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and 

Augusta  Railroad  for  a  Period  of  Three 

Years  after  its  Reorganization 


Passenger  earnings 

Freight 

Mail,  etc 

Total 

Operating  expenses  and  taxes 
Net  earnings 

Interest 

Dividend,  6% 

Total 

Surplus 


1883 


$195,701 
403,415 
119,483 


718,599 

513,308 
205,291 

97,734 
57,600 


155,334 
59,860 


1884 


$195,945 

370,236 

86,684 


652,869 

455,384 
197,486 

96,000 
57,600 


153,600 
58,720 


1885 


$367,991 

204,750 

99,052 


671,793 

455,405 
216,388 

96,000 
57,600 


153,600 
88,934 


APPENDIX 


175 


TABLE  XI 

The  Northeastern  Railroad  of  South  Carolina 


Year 
ending  Feb.  28 


1857 
1858 
1859 
1860 
1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 
1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 

1890 
1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 


8j  H       Gross  earnings 


Passenger 


$15,360 
42,644 
78,689 
89,428 
89,045 
65,355 
104,310 
225,283 

88,*283 

120,018 

92,088 

84,203 

87,667 

101,710 

97,659 

121,685 

116,624 

107,325 

97,674 

72,503 

83,531 

86,007 

100,309 

128,883 

146,052 

164,086 

164,671 

179,726 

185,156 

187,782 

205,873 

9  mont 

en 

224,388 

247,920 

232,398 

201,524 

168,906 

156,379 

158,329 

148,027 


Freight 

Other 

$15,425 

$1,558 

47,383 

9,375 

108,271 

33,053 

149,782 

37,903 

137,168 

37,495 

98,050 

88,143 

89,712 

245,481 

308,557 

325,423 

. . 

No  repor 

95,345 

18,656 

176,381 

21,455 

172,648 

14,495 

151,844 

18,115 

172,465 

19,965 

200,472 

19,368 

190,067 

17,725 

255,248 

18,430 

270,516 

16,710 

292,348 

17,271 

271,904 

12,700 

233,662 

13,905 

265,607 

14,505 

245,068 

15,192 

284,745 

19,338 

333,686 

22,191 

386,141 

28,035 

415,828 

38,833 

849,202 

55,594 

329,622 

60,708 

305,910 

68,568 

301,983 

64,488 

328,243 

66,961 

hs  fiscal  ye 

ar  now 

ds  June  30 

370,733 

80,901 

393,777 

92,945 

348,994 

77,864 

338,876 

79,906 

325,907 

67,450 

302,405 

66,617 

302,376 

70,055 

313,742 

70,759 

Total 


$32,347 
99,403 
222,013 
277,113 
263,707 
237,550 
439,514 
859,264 
t  made  th 
202,285 
317,775 
279,232 
254,164 
280,097 
321,551 
305,452 
395,463 
403.851 
416,956 
382,278 
320,071 
363,644 
346,267 
404,894 
484,760 
560,228 
618,747 
569,470 
570,058 
558,633 
554,253 
601,077 
489,026 

676,062 
734,642 
659,256 
620,306 
562,263 
525,401 
530,760 
532,528 


Operating 

Operat- 
ing 
ratio 

expenses 

$6ljl*S2 

«% 

123,868 

56 

154,850 

56 

159,411 

60 

134,347 

57 

141,992 

32 

337,320 

39 

is  year 

131,591 

65 

251,088 

79 

173,655 

62 

145,439 

58 

159,560 

57 

230,747 

72 

203,799 

67 

235,695 

59 

258,635 

64 

241,514 

58 

220,435 

58 

192,088 

60 

201,144 

76 

210,903 

61 

219,234 

54 

346,896 

71 

378,110 

68 

433,923 

70 

404,523 

71 

407,238 

71 

436,868 

78 

399,814 

61 

440,348 

73 

390,666 

78 

458,729 

68 

460,595 

63 

500,411 

76 

451,905 

73 

428,838 

76 

417,795 

80 

366,347 

69 

370,218 

70 

Net 
earnings 


$38,271 
96,144 
122,263 
104,296 
117,202 
297,522 
521,943 

70,697 

66,687 
105,576 
108,725 
120,537 

90,804 
101,653 
159,767 
145,215 
175,441 
161,843 
128,032 
162,500 
135,364 
185,659 
137,864 
182,118 
184,824 
164,946 
162,819 
121,765 
154,439 
160,729 

98,360 

217,333 
274,047 
158,845 
168,401 
133,425 
107,606 
164,413 
162,310 


176 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  XII 
The  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Railroad  ! 


1867 

1868 

1869 

1870 

1871 

1872 

1873 

Total  _ 

earnings 
Total 

expense 
Operating 

ratio .  . . 
Surplus . . . 

$619,874 

$603,059 

$784,329 

$1,031,971 

$1,044,667 

$,983,966 

$1,005,947 

475,113 

453,217 

£20,446 

643,729 

685,680 

664,426 

700,819 

76% 
144,761 

75% 
149,841 

66% 
263,883 

62% 
388,241 

66% 
358,987 

65% 
339,539 

69% 
305,127 

1  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  vol.  xiv,  p.  354. 
Vernon's  Manual,  1874,  p.  360. 


TABLE  XIII 

Comparative  Statement  of  the  Brunswick  and  Western 

1893-1900 


1893 

1894 

1895 

1896 

Miles  operated 

127 

$625,397 

470,027 

75% 

$155,370 

14,624 

169,994 

103,040 

20,575 

S  46,379 

127 

$611,410 

472,396 

77% 

$138,814 

10,319 

149,133 

103,390 

22,481 

D  16,738 

127 

$531,766 

439,283 

80% 

$112,483 

9,902 

122,385 

103,390 

21,256 

D  42,261 

127 

Gross  earnings 

$536,726 

Operating  ratio 

429,530 

80% 

$107,196 

Other  receipts 

7,326 

Other  payments 

Surplus  and  deficits  .... 

114,452 

103,390 

20,037 

D     8,975 

1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

Miles  operated 

127 

$572,048 

416,856 

73% 

$155,192 

10,220 

165,412 

103,390 

23,108 

S  38,914 

127 

$629,398 

526,506 

83% 

$102,892 

8,090 

110,982 

103,390 

23,548 

D  15,956 

127 

$658,820 

520,397 

80% 

$138,423 

8,550 

146,973 

103,390 

85,608 

D  42,025 

127 

Gross  earnings 

$672,293 

Operating  ratio 

556,404 

82% 

Net  earnings 

$115,889 

Other  receipts 

4,257 

120,146 

103,390 

25,163 

D     8,407 

APPENDIX 


177 


TABLE  XIV 

compaeative  financial  statement  of  the  petersburg  and 
the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroads  at  the  Time  op 
their  Consolidation  into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of 
Virginia 


Miles  of  road  operated , 
Tons  of  freight  moved. 
Earnings: 

Passengers , 

Freight , 

Mail,  express 

Miscellaneous 

Total 

Expenses: 
Maintenance  of  way 

and  structure 

Equipment 

Transportation 

General 

Total 

Gross  earnings  per  mile 
of  line 

Operating  expenses  per 
mile 

Operating  ratio 


Petersburg 
1898 


67 
85,494 

$115,551 

415,860 

62,876 

6,457 


$600,744 


$41,931 
62,881 

173,331 
16,960 


$295,103 


$9,904 


t,554 

49% 


Richmond  and 

Petersburg 

1898 


27 
238,398 

$109,501 

221,380 

28,199 

61,430 


$420,510 


$37,875 
33,666 

150,838 
14,022 


$236,401 


$15,291 

$8,596 
55% 


Total,  1898 


94 
323,892 

$225,053 

637,240 

91,075 

67,888 


$1,021,256 


$79,806 
96,547 

324,170 
30,983 


$531,506 


$10,763 

$5,601 

52% 


Total,  1897 


93 
322,945 

$235,325 

579,036 

79,539 

56,602 


$950,502 


$81,808 
83,698 

337,156 
28,067 


$530,729 


$10,145 

$5,664 

57% 


178 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  XV 

The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company  of  Virginia 


Mileage 

Stock 

Stock  per  mile . . . 

Bonds 

Bonds  per  mile . . . 
Gross  earnings .  .  . 
Earnings  per  mile 

Expense 

Expense  per  mile . 
Operating  ratio . . . 


Absorbed  road, 

Absorbing  road, 

Petersburg  R.R. 

Richmond  and  Petersburg 

June  30,  1897 

June  30,  1897 

66 

27 

$1,284,300 

$1,000,000 

19,473 

37,080 

1,694,000 

640,500 

25,680 

23,720 

559,291 

391,212 

8,381 

14,226 

313,905 

232,476 

4,704 

8,453 

56% 

59% 

APPENDIX 


179 


TABLE  XVI 

Condition  of  the  Various  Lines  at  the  Time  of  Consoli- 
dation into  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company 


Absorbing 
road 

Absorbed  roads 

Atlantic  Coast 
Line  R.R.  Co. 
of  Virginia 

Atlantic  Coast 

Line  R.R.  Co. 

of  S.C. 

Norfolk  and 
Carolina 

Wilmington 
and  Weldon 

June  30,  1899 

Mileage 

94 

$3,000,000 

31,600 

2,308,500 

24,255 

1,165,606 

11,958 

682,626 

7,003 

59% 

676 

$4,426,200 

6,535 

7,649,000 

11,300 

2,041,536 

2,845 

1,233,634 

1,719 

60% 

111 

$2,500,000 

22,530 

1,720,000 

15,495 

707,851 

6,358 

398,344 

3,578 

5Q% 

168 

Stock 

$3,000,000 

17,858 

9,580,000 

56,353 

2,311,464 

13,597 

1,268,887 

7,464 

55% 

Stock  per  mile .  .  . 
Bonds 

Bonds  per  mile . . . 
Gross  earnings .  .  . 
Earnings  per  mile 

Expenses 

Expenses  per  mile 
Operating  ratio . . . 

TABLE  XVII 

Comparative  Statement  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 

Railroad  Company  and  the  Savannah,  Florida, 

and  Western  Railway  Company  in  1900 


Absorbing  road 

Atlantic  Coast  Line 

R.R.  Co. 

Absorbed  road 

Savannah,  Florida, 

and  Western 

Ry.  Co. 

June  30,  1900: 

Mileage  owned 

1,716 

$34,280,500 

19,950 

24,526,500 

13,640 

7,586,745 

4,306 

4,311,598 

2,450 

57% 

1,025 

$9,432,900 

9  205 

28,906,'50O 

28,201 

4,390,650 

4,283 

3,202,153 

3,123 

73% 

Stock 

Stock  per  mile 

Bonds 

Bonds  per  mile 

Gross  earnings 

Earnings  per  mile 

Expense 

Expense  per  mile 

Operating  ratio 

5     5 


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APPENDIX  181 


TABLE  XIX 

Results  of  Work  of  Immigration  and  Agricultural 

Department  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 

Railroad  Company 

jr  Number  of  heads  of  Number  of  new  businett 

families  located  enterprises  located 

1905 573 188 

1906 241 334 

1907 578 177 

1908 667 154 

1909 1,151 140 

1910 2,966 168 

1911 3,521 229 

1912 3,844 215 

1913 2,844 189 

1914 2,913 207 

1915 3,084 315 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

In  few  fields  of  investigation  are  the  sources  of  information  sd 
widely  scattered  as  in  that  of  transporation.  Those  of  the  At- 
lantic Coast  Line  Railroad  are  no  exception,  and  it  has  been 
necessary  to  consult  most  of  the  libraries  and  collections  located 
in  the  states  through  which  the  road  passes,  as  well  as  the  Con- 
gressional Library  and  the  collection  of  the  Bureau  of  Railway 
Economics  in  Washington.  The  collection  of  manuscripts  of 
Lieutenant  Maury  and  Governor  Hammond  in  the  manuscripts 
division  of  the  Congressional  Library  give  an  insight  into  the 
economic  conditions  of  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  respectively. 

The  State  Library  of  Virginia  has  a  complete  file  of  the  Reports 
of  the  Board  of  Public  Works  of  that  state.  This  file  is  invaluable 
in  any  work  connected  with  the  internal  improvements  of  the 
state.  This  collection  contains  a  complete  set  of  Reports  of  the 
Richmond  and  Petersburg  and  the  Petersburg  Railroads.  This 
is  the  only  complete  set  of  Reports  of  the  former  road.  The  copies 
belonging  to  the  road  itself  were  destroyed  when  the  Confederate 
army  evacuated  Richmond  in  April,  1865.  The  only  other  set  of 
Reports  of  the  latter  road  are  in  the  office  of  the  treasurer  of  the 
company  at  Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  This  office  has  a  com- 
plete set  of  Reports  of  the  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad 
also.  The  next  most  valuable  source  of  information  in  the 
Virginia  State  Library  is  the  file  of  newspapers.  Unique  among 
these  are  the  bound  copies  of  the  Railroad  Advocate,  published  in 
the  early  thirties  at  Rogersville,  Tennessee,  by  an  "association 
of  gentlemen."  So  far  as  is  known  this  is  the  only  file  in  existence. 
The  sole  object  of  the  paper  was  to  champion  the  cause  of  rail- 
roads against  water  transportation.  The  little  town  of  Rogers- 
ville is  situated  in  the  territory  which  would  have  been  bene- 
fited by  the  building  of  the  Charleston  and  Cincinnati  Railroad. 
The  Virginia  State  Library  has  also  great  numbers  of  manu- 
scripts, but  as  yet  they  are  not  so  arranged  as  to  be  of  material 
use  to  the  investigator. 

The  North  Carolina  State  Library  has  perhaps  the  best  news- 
paper file  to  be  found  anywhere  on  the  South  Atlantic  Coast. 
The  North  Carolina  Historical  Commission  is  bringing  to  light 
many  valuable  documents  and  arranging  them  chronologically 
under  the  heading  of  the  name  of  the  official.  From  these  much 


186  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

of  the  information  with  regard  to  the  early  rate  controversies 
and  friction  between  the  railroads  and  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment, was  secured. 

The  treasurer  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company 
has  in  his  office  files  of  the  Reports  of  many  of  the  constituent 
roads  and  copies  of  all  contracts  into  which  the  road  has  entered. 
Complete  access  was  given  to  all  of  these.  The  officials  have  been 
generous  in  furnishing  all  the  information  at  their  disposal  and 
documents  in  their  possession. 

The  best  single  source  of  facts  with  reference  to  Georgia  is  to 
be  found  in  the  DeRenne  private  library  at  Savannah,  Georgia. 
The  books  in  this  library  have  been  catalogued  alphabetically 
according  to  subject  and  the  catalogue  published.  The  Univer- 
sity of  Georgia  Library  is  particularly  rich  in  early  newspapers 
of  the  state.  The  files  run  roughly  from  1785  to  1845. 

The  chief  single  source  of  information  with  regard  to  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  is,  of  course,  the  Reports  of  the 
constituent  roads.  Many  of  these  are  not  now  in  existence,  hav- 
ing been  destroyed  in  the  Baltimore  and  other  fires.  Enough, 
however,  have  been  preserved  in  the  various  railroad  and  finan- 
cial publications  and  manuals,  such  as  the  Commercial  and  Fi- 
nancial Chronicle,  Railroad  Gazette,  American  Railroad  Journal, 
Poor's  Manual,  and  Vernon's  Railroad  Manual,  to  show  the 
changing  financial  condition  of  the  roads. 

Finally,  many  interesting  sidelights  were  thrown  on  the  history 
of  the  road  by  personal  interviews  with  men  who  have  lived  on 
it  and  seen  its  development. 

A  Partial  List  of  Sources  Consulted 

American  Geographical  Society,  Bulletin  of. 

American  Railroad  Journal. 

American  State  Papers. 

Armour  Car  Lines  Company.  Contract  with  Atlantic  Coast  Line 

Railroad  Company,  October  17,  1906,  superseding  one  of  1903. 

Treasurer's  office,  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company. 
Atlanta  Constitution. 

Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company  Reports. 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Carolina  Reports. 
Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  Virginia  Reports. 
Atlantic  Coast  Despatch  contract,  August  1,  1887.  Treasurer's 

office,  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  Wilmington, 

N.C. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  187 

Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company. 

Statement  filed  with  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 
Reports  of  the  Immigration  and  Agricultural  Department. 
Circular  issued  by  Secretary  Borden,  December,  1907. 
Circular  to  stockholders,  January  15,  1914. 
Agreement  of  consolidation  with  Savannah,  Florida,  and 
Western  Railway  Company,  April  10, 1902.  Filed  in  office  of 
Secretary  of  Commonwealth  of  Virginia. 
First  consolidated  mortgage,  1902. 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  Railroad  Company  Reports. 
Baltimore  Sun. 

Bancroft,  Joseph:  Savannah,  Census  and  Statistics. 
Bonsteel,  Jay  A.:  "Truck  Soils  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Region." 
Year  Book  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  1912. 
Boston  Courier.  (1830.) 

Brunswick  and  Western  Railroad  Company  Reports. 
Byrd,  Colonel:  History  of  the  Dividing  Line  between  Virginia  and 

North  Carolina.  Westover  Manuscripts. 
Callender:  "Early  Transportation  and  Banking  Enterprises  of 
the  States  in  Relation  to  the  Growth  of  Corporations."  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Economics,  November,  1902. 
Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington  Publications,  1917.  History 
of  Transportation  in  the  United  States  before  1860.  Prepared 
under  direction  of  B.  H.  Meyer  by  Caroline  E.  MacGill  and 
staff  of  collaborators. 
Charleston  and  Savannah  Railroad  Company  Reports. 
Charleston  Courier.  (1839-40.) 

Cheraw  and  Darlington  Railroad  Company  Reports  to  legis- 
lature of  South  Carolina,  1855-57. 
Cole  Collection  of  Acts  of  State  Legislatures.  Yale  Law  School 

Library. 
Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle. 
Connecticut,  Laws  of. 
Constitutional  Whig,  Richmond. 

De  Bow :  Industrial  Resources  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States. 
Fayetteville  Journal,  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina.  (1829.) 
Florida,  Acts  of. 

Forrest,  W.  S. :  Historical  and  Descriptive  Sketches  of  Norfolk. 
Gallatin's  Report  on  Public  Roads  and  Canals,  1808. 
Georgia,  Acts  of. 
Hadley:  Railroad  Transportation. 
Hall:  Travels  in  North  America. 
Hepburn,  A.  B. :  Artificial  Waterways  and  Commercial  Development. 


188  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

Hodgson:  Letters  from  North  America. 

House  Miscellaneous  Documents,  Number  70,  41st  Congress, 
3d  session,  1872-73.  This  document  gives  a  complete  history 
of  the  James  River  and  Kanawha  Canal. 

Howe :  Historical  Collections  of  Virginia. 

Howinson;  History  of  Virginia.  Richmond,  1848. 

Hulbert :  Historic  Highways  of  America. 

Hunt's  Merchant  Magazine. 

Internal  Improvements  Documents  and  Reports.  North  Caro- 
lina State  Library. 

Interstate  Commerce  Commission  Reports. 

Johnson,  Emory  R. :  History  of  Domestic  and  Foreign  Commerce 
of  the  United  States. 

Joseph,  C.  J.,  Tax  Agent  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 
Company:  Unpublished  manuscript  on  the  tax  laws  of  the  six 
states  through  which  the  road  passes. 

Kettell,  in  Eighty  Years  of  Progress. 

Latrobe:  First  Steamboat  Voyage  in  Western  Waters. 

Lorraine,  Edward,  Chief  Engineer:  Report  in  Executive  Docu- 
ments, 41st  Congress. 

Louisville  and  Nashville  Railroad  Company  Reports. 

Lousiville  and  Nashville  Railroad  Company.  Statements  given 
to  the  press  by  the  officials  of  various  railroads,  1902. 

MacLaurin,  John:  Articles  by  Senex,  Jr.,  in  local  newspapers  on 
"Wilmington  in  the  Forties,"  reprinted  in  Sprunt,  Chronicles 
of  the  Cape  Fear  River. 

Martin,  Joseph :  New  and  Comprehensive  Gazetteer  of  Virginia. 

Martineau,  Harriet:  Society  in  America. 

Maury,  Lieutenant,  Executive  Documents :  44th  Congress,  1870- 
71. 

Meares,  Walker :  Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  Personal  interview. 

Mills :  Statistics  of  South  Carolina. 

New  York  Times. 

Niles'  Register. 

Norfolk  Herald. 

North  American  Review.  (1821.) 

North  Carolina,  Acts  of. 

North  Carolina  Historical  Commission,  Raleigh. 
Hoyt:  Papers  of  A.  D.  Murphey. 

Reprint  of  pamphlet  on  committee  of  investigation,  1815. 
Dudley  Letters. 
Vance  Letter  File. 
Letters  of  H.  D.  Bird. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  189 

Northeastern  Railroad  Company  of  South  Carolina  Reports. 

Olmsted:  Travels  in  the  Seaboard  Slave  States. 

Petersburg  Railroad,  map  of.   State  House,  Richmond. 

Petersburg  Intelligencer. 

Petersburg  Railroad  Company  Reports. 

Petersburg  Times. 

Phillips,  U.  B.:  History  of  Transportation  in  the  Eastern  Cotton 
Belt  to  1860. 

^oor's  Manual. 

lailroad  Advocate. 

Railroad  Gazette. 

Richmond  Enquirer. 

Richmond  Times. 

Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  Railroad  Company 
Reports. 

Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company  Charter. 

Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  Company  Reports. 

Ringwalt:  Development  of  Transportation  Systems  in  the  United 
States. 

Robinson,  Moncure,  Chief  Engineer:  Report  of.  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, 1836. 

Royall,  Mrs. :  Southern  Tour. 

Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  Railway  Company  Reports. 

Smith :  Story  of  Georgia  and  Georgia  People. 

South  Carolina,  Acts  of. 

South  Carolina  State  Gazette  and  Columbia  Advertiser.  (1831.) 

Southern  Literary  Messenger. 

Sprunt,  James:  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River. 

Star  and  North  Carolina  Gazette.  (1828.) 

Stephens,  J.  W.,  Agricultural  and  Immigration  Agent:  Com- 
pendium of  Attractions  and  Business  Opportunities  along  the 
Plant  System  of  Railways.  (1900.) 

Swank :  History  of  Iron  in  all  Ages. 

Tanner,  H.  S.  :  Description  of  the  Canals  and  Railroads  of  the 
United  States. 

United  States  Court  Decisions: 

230  U.S.  352.  Minnesota  Rate  Case. 

146  U.S.  279.  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  vs.  Alls- 
brook. 
13  Wall.  264.  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  vs.  Reid. 
242  Fed.  Reporter  300.  Eastern  Texas  Railroad  vs.  Railroad 
Commission  of  Texas 
Vernon's  Railroad  Manual. 


190  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

Virginia,  A  Geographical  and  Political  Summary,  published  by 
the  Board  of  Immigration,  1876. 

Virginia,  Acts  of  General  Assembly  of. 

Virginia,  Appendix  to  Report  of  State  Corporation  Commission 
of  1913. 

Virginia,  Reports  of  Board  of  Public  Works  to  the  General 
Assembly  of. 

Weaver,  C.  C. :  Internal  Improvements  in  North  Carolina  to  1860. 
Johns  Hopkins  University  Historical  Studies,  1903. 

Weld,  L.  D.  H.:  Private  Freight  Cars  and  American  Railroads. 

White,  E.:  Report  on  Proposed  Cheraw  and  Waccamaw  Rail- 
road, Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  1837. 

Whitehead,  Z.  W.:  The  Strawberry  Industry  of  Eastern  North 
Carolina  and  especially  along  the  various  divisions  of  the  At- 
lantic Coast  Line  Railroad.  Unpublished  manuscript. 

Wilmington,  Columbia,  and  Augusta  Railroad  Company  Re- 
ports. 

Wilmington  Daily  Journal. 

Wilmington  and  Manchester  Railroad  Company  Reports. 

Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company  Reports. 

Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad  Company.  Reports  of  Ex- 
amining and  Accounts  Committees,  1845. 

Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company  Reports. 

Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad  Company.  Contract  whereby 
the  company  took  a  99-year  lease  on  the  Wilmington,  Colum- 
bia, and  Augusta  Railroad  Company,  June  1, 1885.  Treasurer's 
office,  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Company,  Wilmington, 
North  Carolina. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Adams,  Charles  Francis,  139. 

Alabama  Midland  Railroad,  136. 

Alabama  Terminal  and  Improve- 
ment Company,  see  Alabama 
Midland  Railroad. 

Albemarle  Sound,  50. 

American  Improvement  and  Con- 
struction Company,  see  Atlantic 
Coast  Line  Company. 

Armour  Car  Lines,  126. 

Ashe,  President  of  the  Wilmington 
and  Weldon  Railroad,  110. 

Atlanta  and  West  Point  Railroad,  1. 

Atlantic  Coast  Despatch,  agree- 
ment among  railroads  concern- 
ing, 124. 

Atlantic  and  Gulf  Railroad,  early 
history  of,  80;  purpose  of  con- 
struction of,  132;  reorganization 
of,  133;  purchase  of  by  H.  B. 
Plant,  133;  constituent  part  of 
the  Savannah,  Florida,  and 
Western  Railroad,  134. 

Atlantic  Coast  Line  Company,  pro- 
visions of  charter  of,  140. 

Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Com- 
pany, roads  acquired  by,  1;  for- 
mation of,  3. 

Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  South  Caro- 
lina, roads  consolidated  into,  2; 
formation  of,  75;  chartered,  143; 
friendly  suit  against,  143;  con- 
stituent part  of  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  Railroad,  144;  leases  Geor- 
gia Railroad,  144. 
Atlantic   Coast   Line   of  Virginia, 
formation    of,     2;     charter    of, 
amended,  142. 
Atlantic  Steam  Navigation  Com- 
pany, 14. 
Augusta,    largest    inland    cotton 
market,  68. 

Baltimore,    connection    with    the 

West,  10. 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  93. 
Belmont,  August,  statement  of,  150; 


chairman  of  the  board  of  direc- 
tors of  the  Louisville  and  Nash- 
ville Railroad,  148;  places  stock 
of  Louisville  and  Nashville  Rail- 
road on  market,  148. 

Bird,  President  of  Petersburg  Rail- 
road, 31,  32,  33,  88. 

Blockade  runners,  112. 

Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia, 
23,  24,  25,  45,  96. 

Boston,  connection  with  the  West, 
10. 

Brunswick  and  Albany  Railroad, 
early  history  of,  79;  sale  of,  135. 

Brunswick  and  Western  Railroad, 
constituent  part  of  the  Savannah, 
Florida,  and  Western  Railroad, 
145. 

Caldwell,  President  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  North  Carolina,  railroad 
proposed  by,  52. 

California  Fruit  Growers'  Express, 
126. 

Camden,  South  Carolina,  inland 
market,  68. 

Cape  Fear  River,  entrance  to,  50; 
outlet  for  the  products  of  North 
Carolina,  53;  formation  of  bars 
in,  53;  appropriation  of  Congress 
for  the  improvement  of,  53. 

Central  of  Georgia  Railroad,  lease 
of  Georgia  Railroad  by,  144. 

Charleston,  decline  of  trade  of,  8, 
71;  population  of,  73;  exports  of, 
73. 

Charleston  and  Hamburg  Railroad, 
76. 

Charleston  and  Savannah  Railroad, 
early  history  of,  81;  destruction 
of,  by  General  Sherman,  133; 
sale  of,  133;  conversion  of  bonds 
of,  into  stock  of,  134;  constituent 
part  of  Savannah,  Florida,  and 
Western  Railroad,  145. 

Chattanooga,  convention  of  south- 
ern railroads  at,  107. 


194 


INDEX 


Cheraw  and  Darlington  Railroad, 
75;  interest  of  Charleston  in,  77; 
construction  and  cost  of,  78;  con- 
stituent part  of  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  of  South  Carolina  Railroad, 
131,  143. 

Cheraw,  location  of,  77. 

Chesterfield  Railroad,  transfer  of 
coal  from,  40. 

Civil  War,  effect  of,  on  railroad 
consolidation  in  the  South,  139. 

Clover  Hill  Railroad,  lease  of,  44, 86. 

Coal  mines  in  Chesterfield  County, 
Virginia,  19. 

Coastwise  trade,  interruption  of, 
during  War  of  1812,  3. 

Columbia,  South  Carolina,  inland 
market,  68. 

Competition,  84,  91,  111,  119,  120. 

Confederate  government,  contro- 
versy of,  with  railroads,  111. 

Cotton,  culture  of,  in  the  South- 
west, 6;  effect  of  culture  of,  on 
population,  6;  effects  of  steam- 
boat on  marketing  of,  6;  inven- 
tion of  cotton  gin,  6. 

Cumberland  Road,  5. 

Dickinson,  P.  K.,  report  of,  on  a 
New  England  railroad,  57. 

Dismal  Swamp  Canal,  history  of, 
and  effect  of,  on  trade,  14,  15. 

Dudley,  E.  B.,  Governor  of  North 
Carolina,  54,  57,  88,  96;  ex  officio 
chairman  of  the  board  of  direc- 
tors of  the  Wilmington  and 
Raleigh  Railroad,  59. 

Eagle  Island,  76. 

Ellis,  President  of  the  Richmond 

and  Petersburg  Railroad,  104. 
Erie  Canal,  effects  of,  on  exports 

through  New  York,  5,  10. 

Fall  line,  location  and  description 
of,  4. 

Fayetteville,  focus  of  wagon  trade, 
55. 

Fredericksburg,  location,  descrip- 
tion, and  history  of,  17. 

Freemont,  Chief  of  Corps  of  State 
Artillery  and  Superintendent  of 
the  Wilmington  and  Weldon 
Railroad,  111. 


Gallatin,  Albert,  report  of,  4. 

Gates,  John  W.,  buys  stock  of  the 
Louisville  and  Nashville  Rail- 
road, 149;  statement  of,  149. 

Georgia,  decline  of  population  of, 
71. 

Georgia  Railroad,  joint  lease  of, 
144. 

Gill,  E.  H.,  Superintendent,  evacu- 
ation of  Richmond  described  by, 
103;  statement  regarding  travel, 
105. 

Greene,  James  S.,  60,  61. 

Greenesville  and  Roanoke  Railroad, 
relationship  of,  with  the  Peters- 
burg Railroad,  26. 

Gulf  Stream,  bars  along  North  Car- 
olina coast  formed  by,  50;  effect 
of,  on  transatlantic  shipping,  70. 

Hawley,  Edwin,  member  of  syndi- 
cate, 150. 

Inconvenience  of  early  railroad 
travel,  an  illustration  of,  94,  95. 

Internal  improvements,  a  conven- 
tion to  encourage,  held  at  Ra- 
leigh, 54. 

James  River,  water  power  of,  at 
Richmond,  19;  rebuilding  of 
bridge  over,  104. 

James  River  and  Kanawha  Canal, 
history  of,  18. 

Lee,  General  Robert  E.,  telegram 
of,  to  Governor  Vance,  of  North 
Carolina,  112. 

Long  and  short  haul,  90. 

Louisville  and  Nashville  Railroad, 
majority  of  stock  of,  owned  by 
the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad 
Company,  1 ;  leases  Georgia  Rail- 
road, 144;  purchase  of  stock  of, 
144;  activity  of  stock  of,  147; 
contest  for  control  of,  147. 

Lynchburg,  location,  description, 
and  history  of,  18, 19. 

MacRea,  Alexander,  59. 
McFarland,  W.  H.,  first  President 

of  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg 

Railroad,  39. 
Manchester  and  Augusta  Railroad, 


INDEX 


195 


constituent  part  of  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  of  South  Carolina,  143. 

Manchester  and  Petersburg  Turn- 
pike Company,  38,  39. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  68,  72. 

Mayers,  J.  M.,  135. 

Migration  from  coast  inland,  72. 

Morgan,  J.  P.,  and  Company, 
statement  of,  regarding  the 
Louisville  and  Nashville  Rail- 
road, 149. 

Murphey,  A.  D.,  report  on  internal 
improvements  proposed  in  North 
Carolina,  51,  5i. 

Naval  stores,  decrease  of,  in  North 
Carolina,  87. 

Navigation  companies,  incorpora- 
tion of,  in  North  Carolina,  51. 

New  England,  trade  of  North  Car- 
olina with,  56. 

New  Inlet,  advantages  of,  to  Con- 
federate blockade  runners,  53. 

New  Orleans  as  cotton  market,  7; 
benefited  by  decline  of  Charles- 
ton and  Savannah,  8. 

New  York  Central  lines,  139. 

New  York  State,  manufacturing 
in,  72. 

Norfolk,  history  of  trade  and  trans- 
portation of,  13;  attempts  to 
secure  foreign  trade,  13,  14; 
evacuation  of,  108. 

Norfolk  and  Port  Walthall  Steam- 
boat Association,  43. 

North  Carolina,  trade  of  eastern 
section  of,  28;  condition  of,  dur- 
ing the  colonial  period,  48 ;  trans- 
fer of  the  election  of  governor  of, 
from  the  legislature  to  the  people, 
48;  configuration  of,  49;  drain  of 
population  of,  to  the  West,  49; 
decline  of  exports  of,  49;  market 
for  products  of,  outside  of  State, 
49;  draining  of  specie  from,  49; 
profit  of  business  of,  to  other 
states,  49,  52;  inlets  off  the  coast 
of,  50;  interest  of,  in  internal 
improvements,  51;  internal  im- 
provement fund  of,  52;  division 
of  sentiment  of  people  of,  as  to 
direction  of  railroads,  54;  trade 
with  West  Indies,  55 ;  tardiness 
of,    in    securing    railroads,    56; 


Board  of  Internal  Improvements 
of,  59;  literary  fund  of,  invested 
in  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Rail- 
road, 63. 
Northeastern  Railroad  of  South 
Carolina,  chartered,  76;  interest 
of  Charleston  in,  76;  damage  of, 
during  Civil  War,  130;  constit- 
uent part  of  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad  of  South  Carolina,  143. 

Ocracoke  Inlet,  50. 

Pamlico  Sound,  50. 

Panic,  1837,  effect  of,  on  Petersburg 
Railroad,  27;  on  Richmond  and 
Petersburg  Railroad,  39;  1873, 
on  railroad  consolidation  in 
South,  139. 

Peedee  River,  navigation  on,  77. 

Pennsylvania,  caravans  in,  16. 

Pennsylvania  Lines,  139. 

Petersburg  Railroad,  provisions  of 
charter  of,  22;  opening  of,  25; 
contract  with  Post  Office  De- 
partment, 26,  31;  competition  of, 
with  Dismal  Swamp  Canal,  29; 
inadequacy  of  track  of,  30;  mis- 
management of,  31;  financial 
condition  of,  32;  reduction  of 
fare  on,  32;  wages  paid  by,  40; 
statistics  of,  87;  contract  of, 
with  F.  E.  Rives,  97;  new  route 
opened  by,  100;  operation  of,  in 
connection  with  Richmond  and 
Petersburg  Railroad,  105;  lease 
by,  of  rolling  stock  of  the  Sea- 
board and  Roanoke  Railroad, 
108;  deterioration  of,  108,  109; 
attack  upon,  by  Federal  troops, 
109;  operation  of,  by  Federal 
Government,  110;  reorganization 
of,  120,  121;  merged  into  the  At- 
lantic Coast  Line  of  Virginia,  142. 

Petersburg  and  Weldon  Railroad, 
105. 

Philadelphia,  connection  with  the 
West,  10. 

Physical  connections,  105,  116, 117, 
118,  119. 

Plank  roads,  55. 

Plant,  H.  B.,  owner  of  Savannah, 
Florida,  and  Western  Railroad, 
145;  contest  over  will  of,  146. 


196 


INDEX 


Plant  System,  see  Savannah,  Flor- 
ida, and  Western  Railroad. 

Pole  boats,  use  of,  on  shallow 
streams,  56. 

Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  Railroad, 
failure  of,  32,  97;  opposition  to 
charter  of,  30,  96;  controversy  of, 
with  F.  E.  Rives,  97. 

Port  Walthall  branch,  86;  abandon- 
ment of,  104. 

Post  Office  Department,  relations 
with  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh 
Railroad,  62. 

Raleigh  and  Gaston  Railroad,  26; 
relationship  of,  with  Petersburg 
Railroad,  26,  27;  cost  of,  57. 

Rate  discrimination,  early  cases  of, 
90;  justification  for,  91. 

"Rebecca  Edwards,"  first  schooner 
to  pass  through  the  Dismal 
Swamp  Canal,  14. 

Regulation,  conflicting  federal  and 
state,  158,  159. 

Rhodes,  Holden,  President  of  Rich- 
mond and  Petersburg  Railroad,  39. 

Richmond,  location,  description, 
and  history  of,  17,  18. 

Richmond  and  Petersburg  Connec- 
tion Company,  116. 

Richmond  and  Petersburg  and 
Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and 
Potomac  Connection  Company, 
116. 

Richmond  and  Petersburg  Rail- 
road, mail  contract  with  govern- 
ment, 41 ;  description  of  track  of, 
41,  42;  bridges  of,  42;  contro- 
versy of,  with  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment, 45;  connecting  link  be- 
tween other  roads,  84;  statistics 
of,  87;  main  line  of  the  Confeder- 
acy into  Richmond,  102;  receipts 
of,  in  depreciated  paper  money, 
102;  damage  of  cars  of,  during  the 
Civil  War,  103;  burning  of  bridge 
of,  over  James  River,  103;  mail 
contract  with  Confederate  gov- 
ernment, 103;  operation  of,  with 
Petersburg  Railroad,  105;  pur- 
chase of  Petersburg  Railroad,  by, 
142. 

Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and 
Potomac  Railroad,  83. 


Rives,  F.  E.,  controversy  of,  with 
Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  Rail- 
road, 97;  contract  of,  with  the 
Petersburg  Railroad,  97. 

Robinson,  Edward,  President  of 
Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and 
Potomac  Railroad,  33. 

Robinson,  Wirt,  President  of  Rich- 
mond and  Petersburg  Railroad, 
33. 

Sand  bars,  formation  of,  in  North 
Carolina  rivers,  50. 

Santee  Canal,  69,  77. 

Savannah,  decline  of,  73;  nature  of 
exports  of,  73;  first  shipment  of 
cotton  from,  73;  conditions  of 
shipping  of,  74;  dependence  of, 
on  North  for  supplies,  74. 

"Savannah,"  first  transatlantic 
steamship,  8. 

Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western 
group,  132;  nature  of  traffic 
handled  by,  136,  137;  formed  by 
consolidation  of  other  roads,  145; 
purchased  by  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  Railroad,  145,  146. 

Schlatter,  Charles,  135. 

Seaboard  Air  Line,  139. 

Seaboard  and  Roanoke  Railroad, 
89. 

Shipbuilding,  decline  of,  in  the 
South,  70;  statistics  of,  70;  gov- 
ernment aid  to,  71. 

Slaves,  employment  of,  in  railroad 
construction,  89;  ownership  of, 
by  Wilmington  and  Weldon  Rail- 
road, 90. 

South  Carolina,  early  products  of, 
69;  decline  of  population  of,  71. 

Southern  Railroad,  139. 

Southside  Railroad,  34. 

Spencer,  President  of  Southern 
Railroad,  150. 

State  regulation,  impotence  of,  98. 

Steamboat,  invention  of,  6;  use  of, 
on  western  rivers,  6. 

Steamship,  effects  of,  on  ocean 
transportation,  8,  9. 

Suffolk,  price  of  staves  at,  50. 

Tarboro  branch,  completion  of,  59. 
Through  ticket,  controversy  con- 
cerning, 92,  93,  98,  99. 


INDEX 


197 


Truck-growing,  in  North  Carolina, 

122,  123,  124,  125. 
Turpentine,  production  of,  in  North 

Carolina,  48. 

United  States  Trust  Company, 
146. 

Vance,  Governor  of  North  Caro- 
lina, 89. 

Virginia,  senate  rejects  bill  relative 
to  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad, 
10;  economic  conditions  of,  10; 
attempts  at  railroad  construc- 
tion, 10;  jealousy  of,  toward 
other  states,  10;  attitude  of, 
toward  internal  improvements, 
11;  jealousy  of  tidewater  portion 
of,  toward  western  portion  of,  11, 
12;  topographical  description  of, 
12. 

Virginia  and  Tennessee  Railroad, 
89. 

Washington,  George,  interest  of,  in 
connecting  East  and  West,  5. 

Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad, 
completion  of,  8. 

Western  Railway  of  Alabama,  1. 

West  Virginia,  caravans  in,  16. 

Williams,  President  of  Seaboard 
Air  Line  Railroad,  150. 

Wilmington,  as  trade  center,  55; 
prices  at,  in  1864,  114. 

Wilmington,  Charlotte,  and  Ruth- 
erford Railroad;  dismantling  of, 
113. 

Wilmington,  Columbia,  and  Au- 
gusta Railroad,  chartered,  75; 
sold    under    foreclosure,    75;    a 


naval  stores  road,  85;  destruc- 
tion of,  during  the  Civil  War,  127; 
gauge  of,  standardized,  127;  reor- 
ganization of,  128,  129;  provi- 
sions of  charter  of,  128;  leases 
Wilmington  and  Weldon  Rail- 
road, 128;  leased  by  Wilmington 
and  Weldon  Railroad,  130;  con- 
stituent part  of  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  of  South  Carolina,  143. 

Wilmington  and  Manchester  Rail- 
road, see  Wilmington,  Columbia, 
and  Augusta  Railroad. 

Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad, 
charter  amended,  57;  incorpora- 
tion of,  57;  provisions  of  charter 
of,  58;  subscription  to  stock  of, 
by  North  Carolina,  59;  early 
equipment  of,  60;  celebration  on 
occasion  of  completion  of,  60; 
endorsement  of  bonds  of,  by 
North  Carolina,  62;  loss  of 
trains  on,  62;  subscription  of,  to 
stock  of  Wilmington  and  Man- 
chester Railroad,  63;  securities 
of,  sold  in  England,  65;  statistics 
of,  87. 

Wilmington  and  Weldon  Railroad, 
110;  how  formed,  2;  constituent 
part  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad,  2;  sections  of  country 
united  by,  53;  owner  of  slaves, 
90;  effects  of  blockade  on,  112; 
attack  upon,  by  Federal  forces, 
113;  taxation  of,  by  Confederate 
government,  114;  deterioration 
of,  114,  115;  damage  to,  by 
Confederate  forces,  115;  Con- 
federate securities  held  by,  116. 

Wolffe,  Frederick,  135. 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .   A 


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